Day One....Which Was..Ummm??? Last Monday I Think.

Hurricane Gustav came rumbling into the Baton Rouge area around noontime.....and we could tell......once the higher winds came the power failed.
We learned later that the wind "gusts" hit 91mph and the "sustained" winds were at 61mph.
And this thing went on for hours........

My family is awesome and they work together like a "well oiled machine" especially in a crisis. So we were ready for Gustav......all that was left to do was "ride out the storm."

View outside our front door during the hurricane.......
A couple of things happen once the power fails....you hook up your radios to hear what is going on around you....and you "nap" or eat. HA!
Because it's BORING and you hear that unforgettable "ROAR" of the winds outside and you can't do a thing about it. So sleep is good even above eating.
View from our outside Patio.....
Then we started to hear the "damage reports" on the radio and we could hear things happening all around us.......we went out on the patio and saw this.......
Ms. Karol and Mr. Joe who live beside us....lost their big tree in the back yard. It feel on their kids car who had evacuated from New Orleans and were staying with them. And it feel on their house. Ugh!!!



Then we went outside a bit later during the storm and saw this...UGH!
Our neighbors behind us lost their very nice storage shed and it blew into our backyard fence knocking it down and over into our yard.
The storm raged into the night so we couldn't really see totally how Gustav had taken it's toll on our city....but the next day we learned of the HUNDREDS of trees that fell into and onto people's houses.....

We recieved roof damage and damage to our trees....but we consider ourselves VERY fortunate compared to many here in the area and outlying areas.
I'm going to write more tomorrow to tell you what happened the very next day.....that is where the very cool stories come it because this town we live and the surround areas are amazing and the people are amazing.

I have to tell you.....the people of the State of Louisiana are highly "Resilient" and you can tell it if you live here...or even if you don't.

They have a big "Come Back" spirit and they help one another and I love seeing it...and I love being a part of it.

More photos and stories tomorrow.

I have to space this out a bit because there's so much to show and talk about!