Looks like we were spared most of the bad effects of Gustav. We've had pretty steady rain all day and a good amount of wind. It's stopped a couple of times and we thought it was pretty much over, then a torrential downpour would come. As of now Gustav is a category 1 and is moving northwest so we're just catching the (hopefully) last few outer bands. So far, there isn't much damage that we can see. Lots of branches and debris of that sort, but no trees down in our yard or at the neighbors. We're planning on taking a drive tomorrow to check out the area and to check on my brothers house a few miles away. Looks like NOLA is faring better than predicted, so we couldn't be happier about that. Although I wasn't here during and following Katrina, I still see the affects of that storm every day when I drive into work, so it's good to know that we're not going to have to go through all of that again.
Electricity is still out, cable is still out, landline phones are out and my cell phone isn't working, so no texting, boo. I think it's because it's a Baton Rouge number and the storm probably knocked some towers down there. Mom and Dad both have Dallas cell numbers that they kept from after Katrina so atleast we have a way to call people. Since the cable's been out since last night dad went up and hooked up the old school bunny ear antennae (sorry if that's spelled wrong, I feel like we don't really have a need to use the word antennae anymore so I don't really need to know how to spell it correctly). Well it might not be bunny ears, but that's what I picture in my mind based on how crappy the picture is on the tv. Is this what tv looked like back in the day before cable boxes and digital cable? God, we're spoiled by technology. I asked dad what people did before when there was no internet, no cable and no generators. He said, we read books, and had conversations with each other. And we played boardgames and cards. So, the Finnin Hurrication Poker game will commence after dinner!! I'm all conversationed out with these people! Just kidding :) If ya gotta be stuck in the house with people, I have to say my parents are some of the best to be stuck with. And not just because of my dad's mad survival man skills.
I must say, Hurrication isn't all bad...since mom isn't working, she's been cooking lots of meals so we've been eating pretty well. Unfortunately we're eating like we're on vacation so we'll probably all gain 5 lbs...or maybe that's just me!
Ian and Christina made it through the night in Montgomery, Alabama with no bad weather and they took the boys to the zoo today, sounds like they're having a fun hurrication too!!
That's about all I have for now...I smell something garlicky and delicious coming from the kitchen so I'm gonna go eat, drink and be merry!
Hope everyone's doing well and gets to come back home soon.
Sarah
Monday, September 1, 2008
Hurricistory Part 2 - "The Older Generation
The next day I learned of my brother's window explosion. The storm was mostly past by then and I think it was then that everyone started to get the feeling that this wasn't going to be the normal aftermath of a hurricane. Since there wasn't any electricity there wasn't TV, but everyone usually had a battery operated radio, so info about the flooding in St. Bernard started to be talked about on the radio. Looking back I think that's the point at which I became an adult because I began to follow the story about Carolyn Parks flooding and how people had to escape the flood waters by climbing into their attics.
It was two weeks before we had electricity. I don't know, if people, who haven't done without electricity, realize how close you come to out and out barbarity when there is no power. No grocery stores are open, you have people trucking in ice and selling it for outrageous prices, no gas, because of course the pumps need power, no telephone service, no police unless they just happen to pass by when a crime is committed, because believe me the bad guys are always there to take advantage. I think society did a little growing up after Betsy but it would take Camille and then Katrina before government and rest of us really woke up to the tragedy others were dealing with, especially the poor and the most vulnerable of society.
Then came Camille, I know I hadn't see that type of destruction, especially so close me. I had spent a lot of my childhood at my grandparents summer house in Waveland, so I was pretty familiar with the Gulfcoast. So many of the grand homes just washed away, so many lives lost.
Katrina would finally take my Grandfathers house away. I hate to talk about Katrina because I know so many people are tired of it, but it's kinda of like the holocaust (no irate e-mails I'm not equating Katrina with the holocaust), we have to keep reminding ourselves of the horror of it so that the lessons learned will not be forgotten. Because we still haven't come back from Katrina, the poor, sick, elderly, the mentally ill are still living with the aftereffects and the continuing neglect by government and society of the most vulnerable in society.
I spent my last days at work (I'm the coordinator for a day program for mentally ill adults) making sure that those who didn't have family could find a way to a shelter, because these people don't have cars to escape in, nor money to pay for hotel rooms. Well so much for the soapbox.
So now we have Gustav. Who comes up with these names. Gustav sounds like the name of your old flatulent uncle, the one who always has gravy down the front of his shirt and is always telling how big you're getting in a kind of leering uncomfortable way. Anyway Gustav is pretty much a bust here in Pearl River. Gusty Gustav, lots of wind and rain but hopefully not too many people hurt by him.
I have to admit this blogging thing is a lot of fun and while I've been blogging, the love of my life has been changing out outlets that have needed to be done for years. There is not a lot else to do so he is trying to get some items on his honeydo list done.
It was two weeks before we had electricity. I don't know, if people, who haven't done without electricity, realize how close you come to out and out barbarity when there is no power. No grocery stores are open, you have people trucking in ice and selling it for outrageous prices, no gas, because of course the pumps need power, no telephone service, no police unless they just happen to pass by when a crime is committed, because believe me the bad guys are always there to take advantage. I think society did a little growing up after Betsy but it would take Camille and then Katrina before government and rest of us really woke up to the tragedy others were dealing with, especially the poor and the most vulnerable of society.
Then came Camille, I know I hadn't see that type of destruction, especially so close me. I had spent a lot of my childhood at my grandparents summer house in Waveland, so I was pretty familiar with the Gulfcoast. So many of the grand homes just washed away, so many lives lost.
Katrina would finally take my Grandfathers house away. I hate to talk about Katrina because I know so many people are tired of it, but it's kinda of like the holocaust (no irate e-mails I'm not equating Katrina with the holocaust), we have to keep reminding ourselves of the horror of it so that the lessons learned will not be forgotten. Because we still haven't come back from Katrina, the poor, sick, elderly, the mentally ill are still living with the aftereffects and the continuing neglect by government and society of the most vulnerable in society.
I spent my last days at work (I'm the coordinator for a day program for mentally ill adults) making sure that those who didn't have family could find a way to a shelter, because these people don't have cars to escape in, nor money to pay for hotel rooms. Well so much for the soapbox.
So now we have Gustav. Who comes up with these names. Gustav sounds like the name of your old flatulent uncle, the one who always has gravy down the front of his shirt and is always telling how big you're getting in a kind of leering uncomfortable way. Anyway Gustav is pretty much a bust here in Pearl River. Gusty Gustav, lots of wind and rain but hopefully not too many people hurt by him.
I have to admit this blogging thing is a lot of fun and while I've been blogging, the love of my life has been changing out outlets that have needed to be done for years. There is not a lot else to do so he is trying to get some items on his honeydo list done.
Front of the house, Post-Katrina and after some of the cleaning up. On the right is the debris pile, well the first of many debris piles.
The view up the driveway after clearing all of the debris.
The debris pile
View of the back of the house before any cleanup
View of the tree that fell on the house from the back of the house.Pre-Katrina Pictures
As promised, here are some pictures of the house before Katrina. Notice the abundance of lush green pine trees in the backyard and all of the shade in the front yard. It's quite a difference here. The Katrina damage pictures are coming next...stay tuned
Hurricistory Part 1 - "The Older Generation"
I decided to do the hurricane retrospective (or hurricistory) since Sarah's greatest hurricane experience was picking up the tons of wet and spiky pinecones and building the pinecone pyre after a storm. She can't help it, most of her experiences were of relatively minor storms.
My earliest memories of hurricanes was that of complete boredom. Before a storm my Mom would go to the store and buy cans and cans of deviled ham, vienna sausages and loaves of Wonder bread. It was during hurricanes that I developed my life long hatred of the above items. Mostly we were bored because of course there wasn't any electricity, all the neighborhood kids were locked up in their homes with their equally bored families, no electriciy, no tv of course, my brothers aggravating the hell out of each other, my Dad smoking his Camels one after the other, and my Mom cooking all the food in the fridge because we had to eat it before it went bad.
It wasn't until Hurricane Betsy that I really understood what all the fuss was about. We lived on Grand Route St. John off Esplanade Avenue and just a few blocks from City Park. I was a senior in High School and school had barely started before Betsy hit the city. This was back in the time before Doppler radar and all the sophisticated prediction software. But we weren't scared because we had Nash. Now if you were from N'Awlins baby and of my generation and older you knew about Nash Robersts the ultimate hurricane prognosticator. ( Just an aside, at work Friday a co-worker told a story about a friend of a friend, who lived in Nash's neighborhood, and said if Nash's car was in the carport he would stay but if his car was gone he was gonna get the hell out of dodge.)
Anyway the wind was just screaming around the house and the rain was pouring down and of course there was no electricity and I was a teenager and what does a teenager do when there isn't anything else to do but go to sleep. Because teenagers, as we all know can sleep through anything. As I learned later (while I was sleeping), the window over my brother George's bed blew out covering him with glass and debris.
Think I'll take a break now, Sarah want's to post some more film. Stay tuned, I'll be back! with Hurricistory part 2, the Older Generation.
My earliest memories of hurricanes was that of complete boredom. Before a storm my Mom would go to the store and buy cans and cans of deviled ham, vienna sausages and loaves of Wonder bread. It was during hurricanes that I developed my life long hatred of the above items. Mostly we were bored because of course there wasn't any electricity, all the neighborhood kids were locked up in their homes with their equally bored families, no electriciy, no tv of course, my brothers aggravating the hell out of each other, my Dad smoking his Camels one after the other, and my Mom cooking all the food in the fridge because we had to eat it before it went bad.
It wasn't until Hurricane Betsy that I really understood what all the fuss was about. We lived on Grand Route St. John off Esplanade Avenue and just a few blocks from City Park. I was a senior in High School and school had barely started before Betsy hit the city. This was back in the time before Doppler radar and all the sophisticated prediction software. But we weren't scared because we had Nash. Now if you were from N'Awlins baby and of my generation and older you knew about Nash Robersts the ultimate hurricane prognosticator. ( Just an aside, at work Friday a co-worker told a story about a friend of a friend, who lived in Nash's neighborhood, and said if Nash's car was in the carport he would stay but if his car was gone he was gonna get the hell out of dodge.)
Anyway the wind was just screaming around the house and the rain was pouring down and of course there was no electricity and I was a teenager and what does a teenager do when there isn't anything else to do but go to sleep. Because teenagers, as we all know can sleep through anything. As I learned later (while I was sleeping), the window over my brother George's bed blew out covering him with glass and debris.
Think I'll take a break now, Sarah want's to post some more film. Stay tuned, I'll be back! with Hurricistory part 2, the Older Generation.
Just a quick post
Just woke up to steady rain and wind. I took a video that I'm trying to upload now but now we're under a tornado warning so I probably shouldn't go outside anymore. We're getting some pretty strong gusts which will continue to get stronger over the next 6 hours when Gustav is moving onshore. We lost cable right after I posted last night, so no wifi today, again, thanks to dad's broadband card. By the way, does anybody know anyone in power at Verizon? I think they should sponsor the blog since I keep mentioning the broadband being the only way to keep posting.
A word about the video...the quality isn't that great and the rain just makes it even more fuzzy looking.
Next up, Mom is going to do the Katrina retrospective or as she calls it the "hurricistory." We're bored, we're making up words, so sue us.
Thanks to everyone that's been emailing us to say they like the blog, we're definitely having fun doing it and it's helping pass the time now that we don't have cable!
A word about the video...the quality isn't that great and the rain just makes it even more fuzzy looking.
Next up, Mom is going to do the Katrina retrospective or as she calls it the "hurricistory." We're bored, we're making up words, so sue us.
Thanks to everyone that's been emailing us to say they like the blog, we're definitely having fun doing it and it's helping pass the time now that we don't have cable!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
First effects
Ok, couple of things befor the official weather update. And by official I don't mean the National Weather Service....I mean Sarah's assessment from the front porch.
Apparently the stress of this hurricane is getting to me already because I mistakenly posted that we are 20 miles above sea level, it's actually 20 ft. Wow, I was WAY off, can you imagine? So, sorry bout that!
This hurrication continues to be a source of amusement for me, it's a good thing because I think we'd all kill each other after being stuck in a house together for a couple days straight watching nothing but the weather channel for 24 hours a day. Case in point, we were sitting on the front porch and dad asked if I had my "sidearm" on me. I said, "what's a sidearm?" He said,"It's your gun Sarah." (Please reference rule number 2 in the post below.) I think I'm in a gangster movie here! Please don't think my dad is a crazy person, he really isn't, we're just having some fun to pass the time.
My brother Ian, his wife Christina, their two boys Declan and Liam and their white lab Pearl evacuated to Montgomery, Alabama. They left at like 6:30 this morning and JUST got there about an hour ago....Montgomery is 300 miles away. 300 miles in 13 hours. I told Ian to send me a blog that I can post so you can all hear about the fun 13 hour evacuation. While we're waiting for that though I'll share a story he just told me. The beginning of the evacuation worked great, contraflow was working as it is meant to, but the problem came when he got into Mississippi and the contraflow ended. For those of you unfamiliar with contraflow...basically they close down the interstate coming into the New Orleans area and use those lanes as additional outbound lanes. So they get into Mississippi and there are state troopers everywhere writing tons of traffic tickets. As if the people evacuating don't have enough aggravation to deal with ?!
I got a funny email that I'd like to share from a friend in New York who read the blog, and for those of you who know my dad, you will find this both funny and true.
"This is Jonathan. The blog is a great idea and I will be reading along. I would say that you're all crazy, but if there is anyone to be stuck in a hurricane with - it's your dad. Others might perish but you'll probably be having a crawfish boil. Stay strong!!"
I'm still laughing about this, because it's so true. I think my dad could be on one of those shows where they drop the guy in the middle of nowhere with a knife and a match and see if they survive. He's that handy and seems to know everything about everything. Thus, a great person to have around during a hurricane!
Ok, so now to the weather update. At about 6:30 we started noticing that it was getting a little breezy outside. Then it started getting really windy and raining...I tried to get outside to take some video to share but of course it slowed down as soon as I got out there with the camera. Then about 10 minutes later the electricity went out...seriously, we're 15 minutes into this thing and the electricity already went out? AWESOME. Luckily we have the trusty generator so all is well. The only thing we don't have is wifi, but dad's gonna work on that tomorrow! For now we're using his broadband card.
For tomorrow, we're going to do a little Katrina retrospective...no, not upsetting stories or anything, just a little background on how we fared over here that's going to include before and after pictures of the house and the damage that was caused here. Compared to those in the ninth ward and lakeview we did well, but I still think some of the pictures are pretty shocking so I'll share those tomorrow.
Hope everyone's doing well and staying safe.
Take care,
Sarah
Apparently the stress of this hurricane is getting to me already because I mistakenly posted that we are 20 miles above sea level, it's actually 20 ft. Wow, I was WAY off, can you imagine? So, sorry bout that!
This hurrication continues to be a source of amusement for me, it's a good thing because I think we'd all kill each other after being stuck in a house together for a couple days straight watching nothing but the weather channel for 24 hours a day. Case in point, we were sitting on the front porch and dad asked if I had my "sidearm" on me. I said, "what's a sidearm?" He said,"It's your gun Sarah." (Please reference rule number 2 in the post below.) I think I'm in a gangster movie here! Please don't think my dad is a crazy person, he really isn't, we're just having some fun to pass the time.
My brother Ian, his wife Christina, their two boys Declan and Liam and their white lab Pearl evacuated to Montgomery, Alabama. They left at like 6:30 this morning and JUST got there about an hour ago....Montgomery is 300 miles away. 300 miles in 13 hours. I told Ian to send me a blog that I can post so you can all hear about the fun 13 hour evacuation. While we're waiting for that though I'll share a story he just told me. The beginning of the evacuation worked great, contraflow was working as it is meant to, but the problem came when he got into Mississippi and the contraflow ended. For those of you unfamiliar with contraflow...basically they close down the interstate coming into the New Orleans area and use those lanes as additional outbound lanes. So they get into Mississippi and there are state troopers everywhere writing tons of traffic tickets. As if the people evacuating don't have enough aggravation to deal with ?!
I got a funny email that I'd like to share from a friend in New York who read the blog, and for those of you who know my dad, you will find this both funny and true.
"This is Jonathan. The blog is a great idea and I will be reading along. I would say that you're all crazy, but if there is anyone to be stuck in a hurricane with - it's your dad. Others might perish but you'll probably be having a crawfish boil. Stay strong!!"
I'm still laughing about this, because it's so true. I think my dad could be on one of those shows where they drop the guy in the middle of nowhere with a knife and a match and see if they survive. He's that handy and seems to know everything about everything. Thus, a great person to have around during a hurricane!
Ok, so now to the weather update. At about 6:30 we started noticing that it was getting a little breezy outside. Then it started getting really windy and raining...I tried to get outside to take some video to share but of course it slowed down as soon as I got out there with the camera. Then about 10 minutes later the electricity went out...seriously, we're 15 minutes into this thing and the electricity already went out? AWESOME. Luckily we have the trusty generator so all is well. The only thing we don't have is wifi, but dad's gonna work on that tomorrow! For now we're using his broadband card.
For tomorrow, we're going to do a little Katrina retrospective...no, not upsetting stories or anything, just a little background on how we fared over here that's going to include before and after pictures of the house and the damage that was caused here. Compared to those in the ninth ward and lakeview we did well, but I still think some of the pictures are pretty shocking so I'll share those tomorrow.
Hope everyone's doing well and staying safe.
Take care,
Sarah
Hurrication '08
Hello all!
Welcome to the first post of our Hurricane Gustav blog aka Hurrication '08. Mom, Dad, Grandma Finnin and I decided to stay and ride out the storm at Mom and Dad's house in Pearl River, which is about 35 miles northeast of downtown New Orleans for those of you not familiar with the area. Hurricane Gustav is forecast to make landfall tomorrow around 2pm on the central Louisiana coast, about 100 miles southwest of New Orleans, putting us on the worst side of the storm. Why are we staying? Well, there are a few reasons:
1.) Gustav has weakened in the last 12-18 hours
2.) Our house is about 20 miles above sea level, and there's pretty much no way we're going to flood from the storm surge or heavy rains
3.) The biggest damage to the house from Katrina was due to trees knocked down by high winds, which means that there really are no trees left in the yard big enough to cause any major damage to the house.
So first off, we are very prepared for this storm, extra water, food, flashlights, batteries, generator w/ 500 gallon propane tank (enough to power the house for about 10 days) and armory just in case the crazies come out to try and loot again!
The preparations began at 6:30 this morning...dad and I moved all of the potted plants, patio furniture and other random stuff into mom's greenhouse. We boarded up the windows and french doors on the back of the house just in case the winds get really high. We've charged everything that could need to be charged, checked batteries, ran the generator and made sure that we're prepared for the inevitable loss of power. Then dad sat us down for a talk about the "rules:"
1.) Always keep the doors locked, and don't leave the key in the door.
2.) If you have to go outside, don't go alone. And make sure one of you is armed.
3.) Lock the door behind you when you go outside.
Then we were all issued a flashlight :)
Next up, we had to get armed. Had a quick refresher course on the guns, loading the guns, extra ammo, safeties and firing the guns. It was entertaining...
Dad: (loads a gun and shows me that it's loaded, closes the cylinder and goes to hand it to me)
Sarah: The safety is on, right?
Dad: There is no safety. The safety is don't pull the trigger unless you want to shoot the gun.
Awesome.
Does this sound a little extreme? It's not, we're just trying to be prepared...who knows if the after effects of this storm are going to be like Katrina or not? The electricity was out for weeks, there was alot of looting, alot of crime and we weren't here that time, so we just wanna be prepared.
So all of the preparations have been made and now it's time to wait out the storm and enjoy as much TV as possible before the cable goes out!
I'll try to update as often as possible, I just have no clue what our internet service is going to be like. I'll be taking pictures and video throughout the next couple of days and posting too so ya'll can all ride out the storm with us. I've posted some semi-before pictures....semi because it's already started raining and getting a little windy over here.
Hope everyone is safe, please keep in touch and let us know where you are and how you're faring.
Take care,
Sarah
Welcome to the first post of our Hurricane Gustav blog aka Hurrication '08. Mom, Dad, Grandma Finnin and I decided to stay and ride out the storm at Mom and Dad's house in Pearl River, which is about 35 miles northeast of downtown New Orleans for those of you not familiar with the area. Hurricane Gustav is forecast to make landfall tomorrow around 2pm on the central Louisiana coast, about 100 miles southwest of New Orleans, putting us on the worst side of the storm. Why are we staying? Well, there are a few reasons:
1.) Gustav has weakened in the last 12-18 hours
2.) Our house is about 20 miles above sea level, and there's pretty much no way we're going to flood from the storm surge or heavy rains
3.) The biggest damage to the house from Katrina was due to trees knocked down by high winds, which means that there really are no trees left in the yard big enough to cause any major damage to the house.
So first off, we are very prepared for this storm, extra water, food, flashlights, batteries, generator w/ 500 gallon propane tank (enough to power the house for about 10 days) and armory just in case the crazies come out to try and loot again!
The preparations began at 6:30 this morning...dad and I moved all of the potted plants, patio furniture and other random stuff into mom's greenhouse. We boarded up the windows and french doors on the back of the house just in case the winds get really high. We've charged everything that could need to be charged, checked batteries, ran the generator and made sure that we're prepared for the inevitable loss of power. Then dad sat us down for a talk about the "rules:"
1.) Always keep the doors locked, and don't leave the key in the door.
2.) If you have to go outside, don't go alone. And make sure one of you is armed.
3.) Lock the door behind you when you go outside.
Then we were all issued a flashlight :)
Next up, we had to get armed. Had a quick refresher course on the guns, loading the guns, extra ammo, safeties and firing the guns. It was entertaining...
Dad: (loads a gun and shows me that it's loaded, closes the cylinder and goes to hand it to me)
Sarah: The safety is on, right?
Dad: There is no safety. The safety is don't pull the trigger unless you want to shoot the gun.
Awesome.
Does this sound a little extreme? It's not, we're just trying to be prepared...who knows if the after effects of this storm are going to be like Katrina or not? The electricity was out for weeks, there was alot of looting, alot of crime and we weren't here that time, so we just wanna be prepared.
So all of the preparations have been made and now it's time to wait out the storm and enjoy as much TV as possible before the cable goes out!
I'll try to update as often as possible, I just have no clue what our internet service is going to be like. I'll be taking pictures and video throughout the next couple of days and posting too so ya'll can all ride out the storm with us. I've posted some semi-before pictures....semi because it's already started raining and getting a little windy over here.
Hope everyone is safe, please keep in touch and let us know where you are and how you're faring.
Take care,
Sarah
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