Surviving the storm...

Hi, everybody! Just wanted to post that we're all okay here at my house. Electricity has been restored to my neighborhood, although there are many in my town still without power. Buckeye's and Pineville's water is still safe...at least they haven't told us differently...but Alexandria's mayor shut all "non-essential" businesses down for 24 hours because of water problems due to lack of electricity. (Keeping M away from the car lot until 1:00 pm tomorrow is not going to be easy...but they are fining violators $2,500 so he better listen to me this time.) School is still out for A tomorrow and they will make a decision about Wednesday tomorrow at 3:00 pm. I'm thinking that we'll be back at work and class tomorrow because we haven't been notified differently. Everyone is working hard to get things back to normal...it's just taking some time.

Friday before the storm, M wanted to move to horse trailer and truck across the street to our neighbor's empty lot. I was worried that it would get stuck and we wouldn't be able to move it. But M didn't listen to me...and moved it anyway. Well, I don't say this often...but good thing. We woke up to two uprooted trees...one fell across the exact spot that the horse trailer and truck was parked just hours before. It doesn't happen often...but every now and then, I can be wrong. Don't expect it to happen again for a very long time.

We lost power right before midnight on Friday night. We didn't get it back until late Sunday evening. We were pretty well prepared...so we did okay without electricity. I only had one battery operated fan, though...so it got passed around a lot. The cable was still out as was DSL...but that was working by today. I had to make calls to State Farm and a tree removal service today. We spent the day catching up on things around here and cleaning up a lot of the debris left in my yard by Rita. There is still tons to do...but again it's going ot take some time.

Yall remember my beautiful garden? You know, the one that I worked so hard on this summer. Well, it's totally destroyed. Lawn timbers were removed by the winds (or a possible tornado)...everything is gone. There are before and after photos on Flickr. I am going to be starting from scratch once I get those trees removed. It will be okay...it was just my garden. Some people lost a lot more...I keep reminding myself. But I think I know a little more how they feel...something that you work and work to make beautiful...something you love...something that means so much to you...totally destroyed. It hurts bad...really bad. I know that I should be thankful that we didn't lose more than just my garden...and I am. I just know how so many others feel right now...because of my garden.

We slept and ate and played games all in a repeated pattern. I am a Dogopoly (Monopoly except with dogs rather than property) fiend. That's what C says anyway. But I thought that was the point of a game like Monopoly. Buy everything. Am I wrong? We played Uno til we were screaming it in our sleep. We grilled Saturday...do you know how hard it is to keep a barbeque pit going with 50 mph winds blowing all around? But it was a wonderful meal...eaten by candlelight. Lots of family time. Except for the stifling heat...it was okay. Sunday...we took cold showers and went to church. God really loves us because the church had electricity and it was downright cold in there. By Sunday afternoon, it seemed that all of our neighbors got in their trucks and on their four-wheelers and drove around the neighborhood to survey the damage. So after church, M and I saddled up the horses and rode around the neighborhood to survey the damage. It was pretty nice to have some sense of normalcy by then. We often go horseback riding on Sunday afternoons in our neighborhood. But C said that we needed to put a big sign on the downed tree in our front yard..."The tree fell. End of story. $5.00 per view. Thank you." There was an endless line of traffic stopping in front of our house to view our uprooted trees. It was actually quite funny. My boss came by my house to check on us. Ms. C had told him that we had some trees down. I work with some good people.

I think I was most worried about my horses. I stalled them this time. During Lillie, they were just out in the pasture because we didn't have a barn. I watched them sway with the winds, terrified that debris was going to hit them. But this time, the horses were amazingly calm and peaceful in their stalls all day Friday and Saturday. M and I went out to feed Saturday morning right in the middle the winds and rains. Even I felt peaceful and happy in the barn with Rita roaring around outside. Saturday evening, I stayed out there in the barn because I felt more peaceful out there with them than inside the house. I only went inside because M was grilling and the good wife that I am...needed to get everything else fixed and on the table. I am so thankful that the barn remained intact and that it didn't flood. I'm so glad a tree didn't fall on it...or electricity cables. Yes...I am so blessed. But man, were they excited to get out of their stalls Sunday!

I'm sure I'll be telling stories of the aftermath for a while as it looks like it will take some time to get back to normal. But we are safe...my family is safe. (I found out today that my uncle who lives in West Lake which is between Sulphur and Lake Charles rode out the storm with his mother. My cousin and her family evacuated north of here. They are all okay. Amazing!) For this...I am truly blessed. I hope and pray that anybody who reads this and was affected by the storm is safe. You're in my prayers.

Oh, and I posted some pictures today on Flickr. Yall got to go see my new baby boy. He's a beauty!