Miss me…?
If you are not aware, both Patti and myself are both located in the Greater New Orleans area. There was a ridiculously devastating storm that blew through here last week. The Hurricane went by the evil name of Isaac, which will now go down on my grrr list of names, along with Katrina and a few male names that I happened to date for a long period of time, which I will not name because just remembering them makes me want to throw glass vases. Okay, I digress.
Well, Isaac was only a Cat 1, which in New Orleanian speak means break out the hurricane shutters and stockpile beer because it’s going to be a long night, but nothing to freak out over. Ridiculousness did ensue though, so much so, that I was having Katrina flashbacks as I watched low-lying parishes being overtaken by water as high as rooftops. Granted some of these areas were outside the levee protections (not within the protected Greater NOLA areas) but, even though these people lived in these areas, it doesn’t make what happened to them any less. Two adults lost their lives. Drowned in their own homes, unable to swim for safety and I heard countless stories of heroes that braved the storm in small skiffs to rescue families that were able to make it to their rooftops. To these people that went out into the storm like that, before even the actual trained search and rescue people could safely enter the area, my hats off, it always puts things in perspective.
Perspective, because, I personally went without power until last night (almost a full week) and was frothing at the mouth over the injustice. A very aggravating inconvenience, but nothing in comparison to what the people of Lower Plaquemines Parish and LaPlace went through and are still going through. But, I needed to explain my absence. This is the only time that this blog has fallen silent or missed a scheduled meme and I apologize. I am just now managing to get to the internet. I had to figure out how to set up a mobile hot spot (extra money on that wireless bill) and I’m just now getting reliable 4G service. It literally has been like the Dark Ages in New Orleans all over again. We are getting on our feet quicker than we did after Katrina, but boy, just a few days without the modern conveniences sure makes life a lot harder.
I’m only telling you guys all this to explain away my absence. My house does have electricity, but a fallen tree pulled part of the wires from the meter out, which happened to be the ground cable, something that grounds the house so static electricity doesn’t build up. Because of this, I’m not plugging in my computer or turning on my television. Everything is on the iPad. This does restrict me a bit. Hopefully that will get fixed soon — please please please. I’m having visions of myself getting electrocuted because I touched the light switch. Of course, I have no idea about the technicality of this situation, the Fire Department said we were okay, but I’m pretty sure they are being harassed by countless worried citizens for other reason.
Patti on the other hand also made it through the storm unscathed only having to go without power for a few days (enough to cause a bit of mental instability though). Last thing I heard she was going to have to clean out her deep freezer. I do feel for her…
The blog should be up and running at full speed shortly, but I don’t think I’ll be doing a DWW tomorrow. The #FF might just be a hop and not a feature, depending on how I can coordinate things.
Thank you to all the kind tweets and emails. You guys made things a bit brighter.
See you soon.
PJ
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Glad your back, missed ya. Be good;)
Glad you’re okay!
So glad you all are okay, even if you have to wait on the electric, being safe is all that maters! My thoughts and prayers are still with you both.
Ali
HUGS!!! Glad you’re okay!
I’m very glad you and Patti are safe!
LOL, one good thing is that my refridgerator is cleaner than it’s been in years; and hubs cleaned the deep freeze for me today – let me tell you I was dreading all that chicken ‘juice’ *shudders*. We got power and internet back Saturday night – it was better than Christmas
Glad to hear you are both safe.
Happy to hear you are both safe. Hopefully things get put back together quickly.
I am so glad to hear that you both are safe. I have lived in Kentucky all my life, so no experience with Hurricanes. But we have had many Ice Storms to knock out power from days to a week or longer. Very inconvenient. My sister once lost power for like a week & a half, so during that time, I kept her 3 kids….I don’t know who was happier when she got her power back one, LOL.
I am glad to hear that you are both safe. It’s horrible that you are having Katrina flashbacks though.
Stay safe!
I’m happy to hear that you’re both ok. It was a relief to see a sign of life from you, Rachel
I can only imagine what it must be like, we never have wind like that here where I live. Kudos to those going out in the storm to rescue others. Volunteers are so, so important(both during a crisis and other more enjoyable things).
I’m so glad to hear that you’re ok, and without damage for the most part. And I think you are an amazing person for all you have done for your city!
New Orleans is one of my favorite cities, and I spent the first few days glued to the TV last week, heartbroken.
Oh thank heavens you’re ok. Hang tough. We’ll wait for you.
Glad things were not worse for you and yours Rachel, happy to hear you and Patti both made it through this latest hurricane and like the rest of the world am sick for those whose lives were lost and for all the ones whose homes were damaged by flooding. It is another long hard road to starting over and do not envy the journey that victims of the storm’s fury face.
Glad you’re both okay and getting back to the norm! We missed u!
Glad that all is well. Missed ya.
Thank you everyone! I’m still not back up and running. I’ll be at my Mom’s house tomorrow, because she finally has internet — so hopefully blog posts will be back and scheduled. LOL — thinking about writing a BB101 on how to keep your blog running during the apolcalypse.
Stay safe! Hope you get out of the dark ages soon
I’m just glad you’re OK! and who cares about memes when you had to live with Isaac for a few day?
*hugs*
Glad you’re okay! I’m so sorry that happened, hope everything turns out alright!
PJ, I’m glad you’re okay! Don’t even worry about webstuff. You just get yourself back on track. We’ll be here when you’re ready! Be well. *hugs*
I feel for you. I remember when Hurricane Ike hit Houston and I was without running water for a few days and didn’t have electricity for a week and a half, two weeks maybe? I was one of the lucky ones too.
Honestly, if you need to take a longer break from blogging (even though you miss it) to get things settled no one will begrudge you. Dealing with rotting food, fuzzy pets that are dying of heat with no AC, and all those other details is time consuming too.
Wishing you nothing but happy thoughts and for the grounding of the electrical wire situation to get remedied soon.
My scariest experience with flooding was actually from El Nino, although I have been through a couple hurricanes. Our entire house was surrounded by 3 feet of water at one point…within inches of getting into the house until the tide went down. The water was about six feet deep on the road. Thankfully the beach dunes in front of the house withstood the storm but the water broke over a neighbor’s house and through the nearby river and we got flood waters through the back side. The only road in and out of town was flooded and closed for an entire day. We got power back I think the next day but we didn’t have school for a week because there were so many low-lying areas still underwater that the shelters were full.
But the most important thing is that you’re okay! Glad you’re back.
Thanks a lot Lizzy. I’ve been through some epic floods…from just a few inches to 15 feet and in our attic. I guess living below sea level will do that to ya.