Where You Be After Dat Gustav, Cher?

by CajunKate

So everyone who had been scattered by the winds of Gustav will finally be home as of this afternoon. The 'rents finally got power back at the Daigle Manse in Prudhomme City. The First Lady, proving her overwhelming intelligence once again, refused to come home until her AC was back on. Dat's one smart lady, cher!

As far as I know, the BR Daigles are still without power, but I did not speak with them yesterday. Byron is still without power in Grand Coteau, but he stayed at Mom and Dad's last night. The previous two nights, he was here in Lafayette with me. Other than that, everyone is home and fine with electricity restored.

This is not the end of this post, however. I do have a rant an opinion regarding the NOLA hurricane evacuation, and since this is my blog, I will rant opine away. Already there has been a chorus from quite a few NOLAites complaining about being forced into evacuating when it wasn't really necessary. I've read the theories of people claiming that it was all a big conspiracy to get Ray-Ray Nagin back into America's good graces. Dude, who the f**k cares? If you live in NOLA, you should have evacuated. Period. Better safe than sorry. Yeah, it turned out to be for no reason. Yeah, it's a serious pain in the ass. I get it. But it's better than clinging to a roof and waiting for the Coast Guard to rescue you. No one knew where that storm was headed. And let's face it, if it had been a direct hit on NOLA, there's no doubt in my mind that levees would have given way again, Cat 2 or not. Those things aren't ready for another storm. As much as we would like to delude ourselves into believing that NOLA surviving Hurricane Gustav was some great measure of success, that is some straight up bulls**t. NOLA is only marginally better off levee-wise than three years ago. SO, STFU, New Orleanians who are b***hing. At least you are alive and well to participate in your favorite pastimes- drinking, eating, partying, and b***hing.

That is all.

The Day After the Day After Gustav

by CajunKate

So these are the top five things I learned today:
1. BDaigle, Sista and MY their baby are headed down to Mandeville. They will stay at Sista's parents' home there. They have power....
2. Which is more than I can say for the Baton Rouge Daigles who may be without power for anywhere from one to three weeks. Aimee and Charlie have shipped their children off to Uncle Ted and Aunt Molly's house (where having seven kids around all day long may slowly drive Molly around the bend...just a hunch.)
3. Gustav needs to get the f**k out of here already because...
4. Tornado warnings are scary and also will keep you trapped at your friends' home in Broussard for five hours when really all you wanted to do was have a nice lunch with them.
and finally...
5. The Mayor knows how to send text messages. Yeah, chew on that!

The Day After

by CajunKate

So here's the update on what is going on with everyone as of now, one day after the eye of Gustav passed through:

* Mom and Dad remain in Tyler, Texas. Byron has been out to their house. They have only one huge oak down, but no power. Byron hooked the freezer up to a generator.

* Byron's place in Grand Coteau is fine, just some debris in the yard. He has no power, though.

* Ted and Molly's home is fine. They have 2 trees down, but none near the house. They have electricity and are on the way back home from Tyler, Texas, right now. They should arrive sometime late this afternoon.

* Alex and I have no damage and hardly any debris. We never lost power. (Let that be a lesson to all of you about the power of Merlot!)

* Charlie and Aimee and the kids are okay. Baton Rouge got hit really hard, but they only suffered a bit of roof damage. However, they are getting slammed by torrential rain from a spiral that just will not move off of them. It's been training across BR all day non-stop. I think flooding in some areas is becoming a concern.

* Burt and Melissa's home in Lakeview should be fine. Of course, no one has actually seen it yet, but we all know that the levees in NOLA (they are most concerned with the 17th Street Canal since that is the one that gave way and flooded Lakeview during Katrina) have held so far and should hold. Burt and Melissa are still in Conway, Arkansas. They were trying to get a doctor to check Melissa today and let her know when/if she should travel. As we all know, TODAY is her due date. They are unsure as to what they will do and are staying in Conway for now. They may come down to Lafayette and stay with us until NOLA reopens. Melissa has already contacted her old OB/GYN here in Lafayette, and he has agreed to be her doctor.

That's all for now!

Gustav D-Day

by CajunKate

*I'll be adding to this post as long as we have electricity.


So today is the day.

7:30 AM: I had a dream last night that the hurricane had already passed over, and I had slept through it. Then I woke up for real and was all confused and ran to the internet, and there that f**ker Gustav is, still headed right for Lafayette. *Sigh* Here's what it's like in our neighborhood right now in Lafayette:



7:51 AM: Alex's mom calls. (Thank God I was awake!) This is how our conversation began:

Me: Hello?
Her (in a completely panicked voice): Alex?!? (Huh? I sound like man now? Greeeeaaat.)
Me: No, it's Katie.
Her (still panicked): Oh, Katie! Are you guys leaving?
Me: Uh, no...no, we're staying, Mom.
Her: But that thing is headed right for Lafayette!
Me: Yeah, it's okay, We're okay. We're fine. Don't worry.
Her: Don't worry?!? Oh, sure, we won't worry!
Me: No, Mom, listen. It's supposed to be a 2 by the time it gets here. We went through a 2 with Lili and everything was fine. We didn't get any damage that time. I'm sure we will be okay,
Her (calmer): Oh, are you sure?
Me: Yes, I am very sure. We're fine. We're going to be fine.
Her (much, much calmer): Oh...okay. You sound okay. You're so calm.
Me: Well, the Merlot and Xanax cocktail really helps to keep the edge off.

Okay, so I didn't say that last part. Although, it would have been balls-out hilarious to have heard her reaction. And, of course, I don't really have any Xanax for such a cocktail...unfortunately. The rest of the convo was much better once I had soothed her tattered nerves and I focused the conversation on them, their trip up to Northern Alabama, and what they'd heard so far about Slidell.

8:15 AM: They are predicting 90 MPH winds for Lafayette. Whew! Better than expected. I can handle that.

8:30 AM: News says Morgan City is getting "slammed." They've lost power down there. MC is about 2 hours southeast of Lafayette. BOOOOO! That means not much longer with power for us. F**K! I hate being hot!

8:41 AM: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here we go!


8: 53 AM: Awwww, man! The f**king cat puked! Really, Gizmo? Like I need THAT right now!

9:06 AM: What it's like right now in my 'hood:




9:31 AM: Just got a text from Queen Emily in Baton Rouge. They're fine; their power has gone out though and the wind is getting worse.

10:15 AM: Took a shower to wash my vile hair but did not shave my legs. No sense in going overboard. The drop in barometric pressure has given me a wicked headache. Here's what's goin' down in the 'hood right now:



11:17 AM: Gusty right now (maybe 30 MPH gusts?) and no rain at all. Greg just called from the other side of Lafayette; they still have power as well, but he began spouting Rob Perillo's dire warnings. I do not listen to Rob; he is a meteorological alarmist. In fact, I got so bored of watching hurricane coverage that I switched over to House Hunters International on HGTV. If that's wrong, then I don't wanna be right.

11:52 AM: Started watching hurricane coverage again. Eye is expected between 2PM and 4 PM. Slightly better time frame than waiting for the cable guy. Made Alex a bacon and cheese sandwich. Not sure what I will do with him when he's on the floor with his massive coronary. Reported gust in Lafayette at 48 MPH. Obviously, we still have power. 8 minutes until noon. Contemplating the fact that noon is usually considered an acceptable time to begin drinking.

12:19 PM: Uploading some video. If you are thinking it doesn't look so bad, that's because it's not...yet. This will not last. Looking at the radar, we are going to be getting really hard core stuff within the next hour, but I will continue to update until we lose power. Supposedly there are sporadic outages around Lafayette already, so when that happens, cheers and let the drinking commence! Won't be nuttin' else to do.


12:40 PM: Here comes round 2.


1:30 PM: Conditions deteriorating rapidly. Power outage seems imminent at this point. Some video (probably the last?):



2:00 PM: Getting pounded now, but somehow we still have power. It's a miracle which I hope has no end!

2:13 PM Gizmo is hiding under the bed. She no likey! 44 MPH winds at airport with gusts of 59MPH.

2:59 PM: More video. This makes me want a drink. Sorry, this makes me want a drink even more than usual. Only 10% of LUS customers are without power. This is good news!



3:02 PM: The eye seems to be directly over us right now. Hopefully, this is the worst of it.

4:00 PM: Taking a while for the eye to completely pass over. Kind of just sitting and twisting on top of us and inching away ever so slowly, conditions are improving steadily. Rain has ended and winds have slowed dramatically. Texts from Baton Rouge show the situation there is not so rosy. Charlie and Aimee's parish is under curfew for the first time ever, and the entire parish is without power. I have sent an invitation to them to come to Lafayette and spend the night in comfort, but I doubt they can get out as travel is still not safe and, technically, we still have half of a hurricane to go.

4:41 PM: I can hardly believe it but the rain has stopped. The wind is still fairly gusty but not too bad. We never lost power. I raise a glass to LUS! Byron just texted that he is without power in Church Point and may come to Lafayette tonight once things calm down there. Panic way down in Plaquemine Parish. Mississippi levee is being topped and may burst. Parish president says get out NOW to anyone who decided to stay. God speed to those people!

5:01 PM: Pics of survivors and debris:

Gizmo- Survivor out of hiding

Debris- Backyard

Debris- My street

5:39 PM: Wind has died significantly. No rain. We can hear someone running a generator nearby. Not sure why. We have power, but that sound makes us nervous! We were watching CNN earlier when the Plaquemines Parish president was in the middle of an urgent message telling anyone left in the parish to get out due to a possible levee breach when Wolf Blitzer cuts him off to go to...wait for it... Laura Bush giving an address at the Republican National Convention. Seriously, Wolf?

6:40 PM: This will be my last post for today. The wind is down to a breeze. There's no rain now. Our friends Greg and Clelie and their dog Peanut will be coming to spend the night because they have no electricity at their place in Broussard. We survived the storm in fine shape, and life is great! The end.

Gustav Update

by CajunKate


So the Zandinator and I decided to head out and see if Sonic was open so we could get an ice cream treat but alas, Sonic, and just about everything else, was closed up tighter than a gnat's ass.  

What was open?  Well, Backyard Burgers had a line out to Amabassador Caffery, and Albertson's had a  few cars in its lot. The BP and ShopRite on West Congress were open with a few peeps in line for gas.  And, of course, our neighborhood Chinese buffet Lotus Garden was open with plywood at the ready, which I assume will be tacked up as soon as the last of the fried rice is sold.

But traffic on Johnston Street, the main drag, shows what a ghost town Lafayette is at 6:00 PM on this particular Sunday:

And many, many homes and businesses are sporting this look:

And although the weather in Lafayette looked like this at 6:00 PM:

At the Mottram hovel, I have implemented my own Hurricane Gustav plan:

And so tonight, this is my own little piece of advice to those other non-evacuees who are hunkered down in south Louisiana and to all those family members who are nibbling on fingernails throughout the great U. S. A. , worrying about those of us who are so hunkered: "When Mother Nature gives you hurricanes, invest in Merlot."  

Updates will continue until LUS (Lafayette Utility Systems) craps out on us.

Here's Da Update...uh, Nate!

by CajunKate

So, really the only change since yesterday is that BDaigle, Sista, and Baby Daigle ended up leaving for Conway, Arkansas, at 3:00 AM today (Sunday) to bunk with Sista's family.


Mom, Dad, Ted, Molly, and all the kiddos are up in Tyler, Texas.


Byron is still going to Church Point and Alex and I are still remianing here in Lafayette.


Right now, it looks like the storm will hit the coast as a low CAT 4. By the time it reaches Lafayette, it will be a CAT 2, which we've been through before with Hurricane Lili about six years ago. Also, as of now, Lafayette would be on the west side, the weaker side, of the storm. I am hoping that this track and forecast holds. Barring the dream of the storm falling apart and not even coming ashore, I'd be happy with the west side of a CAT 2. Well, not happy, but I can definitely think of far worse scenarios.


Anyway, we'll keep posting until the electricity goes out. The only people no electricity is good for is you guys because, seriously, nobody wants to be exposed to the ineveitable rage-aholic postings I'd type up while sitting in a 90 degree house in 95% humidity. Trust.