Friday Report

We have power in New Roads, LA. Yay! The electricity came on last night while I was talking to Fran, but then it went off after a minute or so. I took that as a portent of good things to come, and, indeed, after an hour or so, the power came back on and stayed on, thanks be to God and the hardworking utility employees.

Still no power in Thibodaux, so I'll stay here for a while. My son who lives in Houma found his house in good shape, but for the two ventilating turbines blown off. However, there were no leaks as a result. My DIL's parents and her sister returned to Houma this morning, planning to stay. It's just DIL and me for now, and it's nice and quiet. I'm on my fourth wash load of towels, clothes, etc. It's good to be back in business.

I'm more grateful than I can say for all the prayers and good wishes. I speak the truth when I say that they provided strength and encouragement during the scary times. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I have the best commenters on the intertubes.

I have not been much in touch with the outside world, but I did watch part of McSame's acceptance speech. I didn't think much of it. I loved his line about Obama wanting to put a bureaucracy between you and your health care. I wonder how he feels about his own access to health care through the Senate. Does he spurn it? A lot of folks would like access to health care like yours, Senator, bureaucracy and all. Big applause for that line . I guess those folks are all well covered. The crowd was very white. If people of color were there, the camera did not focus on them, except for a brief pan of a Vietnamese for McBush crowd.

Sarah Palin was a very poor choice as candidate for VP. What was the 72 year old candidate thinking, or was he thinking? Of course, the plan is to bring out the fundamentalist vote for McWorse, and this may well do it. And the Repubs say that Obama does not have experience! I consider myself a feminist, but women do not get a pass from me, just because they are women. Sarah is NMKOW. She's pretty much a disaster of a choice. Women can be strong without guns and liking moose for dinner!

When we had our talks with our teenage children, we gave them the facts, including birth control information, and our advice on how they should conduct themselves, bearing in mind that they may not heed our advice. We said that if they were underage and a pregnancy occurred, that there would be no wedding, but we told the boys that they would have to take responsibility if there was a baby. So what does this little family vignette have to do with the subject of the post? It's pertinent, or it's not. Take your pick.

Again, thank you for your care and concern. Mwah! Mwah! Virtual hugs all around, except for those of you who don't like hugging.

Thursday Report

Grandpere is in Thibodaux with no power, but he emptied the refrigerators. He will stay there and keep the generator running for his wife, the freezer. Yes, I have concluded that his true wedded wife is the freezer. I guess you could say that I am his second wife. Did you know that south Louisiana allowed polygamy? My son in Thibodaux has a gas stove, so he will eat with him.

That's OK, because the Winn-Dixie store here opened, and we were able to buy groceries and supplies, like much needed toilet paper. The store was not a mob scene, and I took my time shopping because the store was air-conditioned. Until power is restored in Thibodaux, I will stay in New Roads, because we can cook, and we have hot water.

We tried to wash a load of towels, but the 40 year old washer did not complete the cycle, so we had to wring the towels by hand, and they are now hanging on the porch. I had washed a few of my clothes by hand in the bathtub yesterday, and my bras and panties were on full display on the front porch swinging in the breeze for all to see until they dried.

We're eating well, because we're emptying the freezer. My DIL cooked delicious fried shrimp and fried potatoes for lunch.

My son and grandson will go to Houma this afternoon to check on their house, but they will return to New Roads tomorrow.

I'm reading your comments and enjoying them, but I can't respond to them now. I can only answer essential emails. I'll try to post each day as long as I have access to my DIL's computer.

Love to all.

Hello Out There!

Hello everyone. I'm using my DIL's computer briefly. We are still in New Roads, LA, with no power. The storm was bad here. The eye-wall passed over us. Lots of trees down, but the two houses here are fine. All my family are safe, and all our houses came through with minor or no damage. Thanks be to God!

The eye of the storm passed over Houma, LA, and inflicted major damage. My town, Thibodaux, LA, suffered a lot of damage, too. We do not have power, and the water goes off for a brief period each evening, but comes back on pretty quickly. It's hot and raining still. We are beginning to run out of supplies, but no stores are open yet.

The FEMA blue tarpaulins that Fran mentioned were in Texas until this morning when 50,000 arrived in Louisiana. I don't understand why they were not in Louisiana before the storm. Many folks have roof damage and could have used them earlier I can't verify this either, but there was a trailer on Channel 9 out of Baton Rouge yesterday, saying that no tarps had arrived in LA yet. That delay makes me angry.

Our governor is getting his baptism by fire. When he was told that it could be weeks before power could be restored in certain areas, he said that was "unacceptable". I had to laugh. That's like stamping your feet in a temper tantrum. If anyone is truly working it's the utility people, clearing away fallen trees and branches so they can work to restore power. It's a roll of the dice to decide whether New Roads or Thibodaux will have power restored first, so we may return to Thibodaux tomorrow.

So. Here I am hot and cranky, with only one local TV channel, not knowing what's going on in the big world out there. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and concern. The prayers worked!

I posted by accident at OCICBOV and decided to leave it there ans post here, too.

Where In The World is Grandmere Mimi?

She is still somewhere near or around New Roads.

Power is off.

Weather is hot.

Generator will not give enough power to run clothes dryer.

Wet dirty clothes do not dry in the humidity.

Water is off - then on - then off.

No cell phones.

Local TV reports.

Food running low, no stores open. They are still ok however.

This is far from the coast and they still got hammered by the storm.

And she is deeply grateful.

That's our Mimi.

Grandpere has made a run back to Thibodaux and will return to New Roads. No power on in either location.

Mimi really wanted me to blog about FEMA Tarps that were stuck in Texas by mistake and only just got to Louisiana. She was REALLY angry about this.

Sadly I could not find a link - if someone else can, Mimi wants it blogged about.

Mimi is very disturbed at the way the RNC is going and is desirous of wanting to act and not react, for Democrats to be strong and not defensive.

That's something we can all agree on.

Monday Evening Update from Fran

My good blogfriend Dcup put a comment in for me on the last post as I was away from home for hours and Dcup's cellphone was readily available.

Actually I was on the phone with D... her name is Lisa actually and Mimi called but it must have gone straight to voicemail. Lisa knows I would have hung up on her for Mimi!

Anyway - all is well, but no power and phone service is intermittent due to busy circuits. I actually did continue to try to reach Grandmere but busy busy busy circuit signals.

They seem to be doing okay and holding up, but the storm was very bad, even up in New Roads.

Thanks and prayers to all, for all.

Fran

4pm Eastern - Monday - From Fran

It is Monday at 4pm and I have not heard from Mimi today. I tried her cell and it went straight to voicemail and the house phone at New Roads just gets a fast busy.

I am presuming that the winds took out the phone service and the lack of power (they do have a small generator) explains the no cell phone.

She sounded good around 7pm last night, but I hear the winds were bad.

Let's hope that the old adage of "no news is good news" is the order of the day. I just wanted to put this up as I am about to head out for the rest of the day and evening.

Prayers for Mimi and family, for all dealing with this storm, and for all those gathered here.

Update From Grandmere Mimi via Fran Part II

UPDATE: The worst is behind Mimi and her family. They did lose power however and the house that they are staying in did get a lot of water coming in, which they kept cleaning and mopping up.

She does not know when they can return to home - she will keep me posted and I will keep you all posted.

A neighbor at home said their house looks ok, but they are anxious to see how things are inside.

Mimi said that this was as bad as Andrew, which was bad. There are tons of tree limbs down everywhere.

Again - she is deeply grateful for all of the prayers, thoughts and good wishes.

Fran

Update from Mimi Via Fran

Mimi called me a couple of hours ago. Things were going ok. They were fine and had power - the lights did flicker a few times, but that was it.

Her kids - both with her and not, all seemed fine where they were, her son in Thibodaux (am I spelling that right?) was doing ok riding out the storm and still had power. Her son-in-law in River Ridge was the same.

One thing that Mimi was concerned about was the Industrial Canal and the barges that had come loose and fears that the Upper 9th Ward might flood.

Another good thing in Mimi's mind was that the GOP convention seemed to go kaput with the storm!

Mimi expressed again her overwhelming thanks and awe at how much we love her. We are not surprised though, are we????

And then Mimi wanted to know how Jane was. I was able to report that Jane was in the process of moving into her new home in record speed and that both Jane and Bishop Maya were holding up remarkably.

Of course Mimi wanted to call Jane to make sure that she was ok... Just like our generous Grandmere to do so! (I have also spoken to Jane today and she seems great, all things considered.)

What a community we have built here - it kind of knocks me down too. Thanks be to God!

Maybe Mimi will log on later and update us more. In the meantime that is it for now.

Monday Morning Report

Wind and rain are starting up but not bad yet. I hope that the effects of the storm will be less serious than we expected. My son in Thibodaux still has electric power.

PJ in the comments below, said that Thibodaux is nearly in the Gulf. Check out Houma, where my other son lives. That's why he's moving to Thibodaux when his son finishes high school.

I'm feeling a little more optimistic than previously, but we've not seen the worst yet.

New Orleans seems to have come through pretty well, although I remember Mayor Ray Nagin's famous, "We dodged the bullet...." after Katrina and before the levees broke.

The problem I'm hearing about now is that the storm is slowing down along the Louisiana coast, meanwhile pushing in water from the Gulf and dropping a good bit of rain, increasing the threat of flooding.

Overwhelmed!

Hearing of all the prayers from the different congregations this morning is overwhelming. Thanks to you all. They are much appreciated.

As the storm moves inland, it loses strength, so even if it comes close to us, the wind strength will be less, maybe 85 mph, not fun, but I've been through that before when we stayed in our house for Hurricane Andrew. We survived. It's raining here, and the wind has picked up a bit, but nothing bad, yet. We'll likely lose power soon. Please pray for my son and grandchildren who stayed behind in Thibodaux. We get periodic updates from them by phone.

I'm afraid my poor New Orleans will be affected by this storm, too, but perhaps not as badly as with Katrina.

Fran love thanks for being such a brick and taking the time to post here.

Love and blessings.