Raining Cats and Dogs

Gustav hit South Louisiana with a vengeance today. It came ashore at Cocodrie just one mph below a Category 3 storm. The eye passed between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, putting the Baton Rouge area on the "dirty side" of the storm. And, boy, was it dirty. One million people without power, trees down everywhere, and the storm spawned many tornadoes.

We had minimal shingle loss to our new home and our poor chimney cap was battered and will need to be replaced. But we had no loss of loved ones and no family or friends with trees in their homes, so we are very fortunate.

Our electricity went out at about 11 a.m. and remains off. There are numerous trees on power lines on our street and three blown transformers, so who knows when it'll come back on. Steve will stay at the hospital - the roads are too dangerous to even attempt to pick him up, not that the hospital would let him go home. But they have power and a/c, so he'll be more comfortable there than here.

Here's what the dogs were doing during the storm:

They would go from one window to the other, watching the wild wind and rains.

Kallie took a more casual approach to the storm.

And this brave little cicada decided to watch from my back patio step.

He stayed there during the whole day, barely moving. Once things calmed down, he bid us adieu.