Hey there friends and family!
Well, it's official....a HURRICANE is coming our way. This tropical storm that we've been watching so closely for about 3 days now has just been upgraded to a category 1 hurricane about 2 hours ago.
Right now, it's basically the calm before the storm. The air is super nice and cool, a slight breeze and sporadic cloud cover. We were just in a tornado warning over the last hour due to the circular winds that were being produced....but that has come and gone. It's starting to hit in the very little tip that juts into the Gulf of Mexico. The heaviest of the showers should be moving in this evening sometime...and overnight will start changing.
On Sunday, we went out and got our hurricane preparedness all together. Bottled water, non-parishable foods, batteries, flashlights....and a little alcohol. (Have to find the silver lining in this...right?) Going out on Sunday was an interesting/eye-opening experience. I thought because we were going out so early that we would be laughed at for getting our hurricane items....but remarkable a lot of the water on the shelves was gone, gas pumps were full of lines and dried up by the end of the night.
At first, we had talked about leaving and heading up to Nebraska....but the more we talked to people that live here and observed the actions of our neighborhood....it seems as though many people are not all too concerned. It seems as though when hurricanes get to a strong categrory 2 into a category 3 is when most people decide to leave. This hurricane will not be to the effect of Hurricane Katrina...but seems to be following that same tract and will be hitting almost exactly to the day that it hit 7 years ago.
We went and worked out last night and this morning, outdoors, to take advantage of this enjoyable weather! It was a little windy, but still very nice out! Who knows if we'll get outside over the next couple of days!
On Saturday, we're expected to leave on our week long vacation/.honeymoon to the Bahamas....and will plan on still going as long as the airport still has planes flying out of here. Which, as we have talked to many "experts" and people that live around here....they seem to think that we'lll still be going...which is encouraging.
Everything is pretty much shut down all of today and Wednesday. Really, its very comparable to when a big blizzard is expected to hit, with how they are cancelling school, businesses, etc. The one positive thing about a hurricane is that it slowly makes it's way here and allows for preparation. On the other hand, I almost wish we were experiencing a "tornado" watch and Nebraska weather...because at least you're only in a watch for 4-6 hrs rather than 4-6 days.
Chad went into work for part of the day yesterday to help bunker down the work site and get all of the electronics/server from the trailer out of there. I'll still be planning on going to work on Thursday and Friday...but am on call if need be before hand! Friday will be last day at Ochsner full-time, as I have found another job working Monday through Friday at a clinic....which is something that we are both looking forward to with a new,
NORMAL, schedule...and have the weekends to spend time together and experience this area we are living in!
That's all for now...we'll try and update as frequently as possible. We may have limited electricy/internet/phone access by late this evening and tomorrow. But we'll defintely keep everyone as posted as possible! We took some video of all the before stuff.....and we'll take some after video....and will hopefully be able to post on it so you, too, can experience the hurricane :) Let the drinking begin....haha
Love you all!!
