My posts are becoming more and more spread apart… I guess I’m finding that now that my apprenticeship is over, I don’t have as much to talk about. This seems silly, because I’m still working just as much and on new stuff, but I feel like the topics have become redundant…
What to do…
Well, for starters, LA took a big hit this past weekend by Hurricane Ida. I considered leaving the area on Friday evening, but reconsidered when I thought about the path–I’d have to go west through Lafayette (one suggested target of Ida) and Lake Charles (the center of the devastation of Hurricane Laura last year). Keith had mentioned that the gas stations around us had already been significantly backed up with cars, making fuel an issue. This would either have added a good deal of time to the travels or left me without fuel, because they do run out…
So we stuck around. Rarely do people in Baton Rouge get too concerned about hurricanes, although they always like to recant the nightmares of Gustav (2008) and, when old enough to remember, Betsy (1968). They tell stories of Katrina, but most are of rescue missions or secondhand stories, as Baton Rouge was not significantly affected by Katrina. Furthermore, West Baton Rougers, if I should be concerned at all, I’ve almost been laughed at, as West Baton Rouge is even more protected than East Baton Rouge.
This time though, we weren’t laughed at, and you could tell by the behaviors of the people in WBR that this one might be something to worry about.
We prepared. Tied loose items that couldn’t be moved down and moved all others into a safe place. Keith got plenty of extra fuel to power our (probably 40 or 50 year old generator–a gift from his grandparents). We started freezing water in our freezer to make additional ice and ensured we have plenty of non-parishable foods, water, dog food, etc.
The last few storms I’ve experienced have produced certainly more than a light breeze, but honestly nothing worse than bustling through the towers of chicago on a windy day. Ida gave me new meaning to what sustained winds were. Everything in my past has been gusts–sometimes scary (even between the buildings of chicago where I’ve nearly been knocked off my feet). There were a few moments in Ida where a strong gust came through, and then it didn’t stop and it still didn’t stop. I watched a palm tree in our yard and its sister bent to 60, maybe 70, degrees for probably a good 30 seconds. That was new. That was awakening.
Oh…
We were fortunate through this storm.
At about 9PM, a burst of neon-sky-blue lit up the sky–a transformer going out. About two seconds later, we lost our network–we still don’t have internet and thus I’m hotspotted into my phone right now. Just before midnight, we lost power–we’d had several blips before this one where the house and neighborhood got very dark, but the power came back. This time it didn’t.
I received one last text from my mom at 12:04AM to wish me good night. I fell asleep shortly after, so I’m not sure when cell service went out, but when we awoke we had no way of contacting anyone to let them know we were okay.
At around 10:34-ish, suddenly, the whole house powered up. Still no cellular. Finally around 1PM, we got that back and all the worried texts and voicemails came through at once. An hour or so beforehand, I’d gone to a nearby friend’s house to use their verizon serviced phone to leave both Keith and my parents voicemails–because no one answers their phone for numbers they do not recognize (no shame–i send them right to vm).
As I said we still don’t have internet, but we are very lucky. As of yesterday morning, a million people were without power. Today, most of Baton Rouge still does not have power. Much, if not all of New Orleans will remain without power for weeks, if not months due to the high voltage line powering the city falling into the Mississippi.
I do believe that credit is owed to the state and the governor through this storm, as this was the most I’ve ever felt like the state was prepared for a storm. Laura, Marco, Zeta, & Delta came at us last year after 8 years of near calmness with no big storms–perhaps we weren’t as prepared for these ones (prior to these four storms, the last and only storm I’d experience in LA was Isaac in 2012). For Ida, the governor was speaking days beforehand and the team was making calls to evacuate early.
The death toll thus far for Ida is 4. Laura last year, hitting Lake Charles (a town I’ve been to many times for work) tolled 77. Gustav in 2008, a toll of 153, and Katrina in 2005: 1,833. By stating these numbers, I am in no way attempting to downplay the current situations of my fellow Louisianians, but I’ll leave you with those numbers for you to decide. Perhaps the storm was not as bad or perhaps we were more prepared.
The boys, as hoped and expected, were oblivious to the whole thing–except the first power blip. They did not understand why the lights went out or why Rex’s game of MarioKart shut off mid race.
Rex: Rex has been practicing videogames–I know, I’m a super great mother! But hey! Sometimes I play with him! He’s gotten good though. A few weeks ago, he couldn’t do more than finish a race in last. But today, I’ve seen him get up to second a couple times and typically finishes somewhere between 4-6. Granted videogames are a great way to let your child learn, but he is learning. Not only is he learning how the game works and the rules and the controls, he’s also fine-tuning fine-motor skills (pun intended?).
Leo: Leo is a chatty box! Today, he “counted to ten”, which went from me saying “one” then him saying “two” then him repeating the rest of the numbers after me until we got to ten where he through his arms up in the air and cheered “10!!!!” “Yay!!” and then applauded himself thoroughly.
My favorite thing that both boys have been doing lately though is make soup. They have a play crawfish pot & set, which includes crawfish and all the fixin’s. Yesterday, Rex made me car soup, i think with a potato and one crawfish–it was good. I’m a fan of car soup, but I did get some tire stuck in my tooth and it made me a little gassy…
Leo has also been making soup. Yesterday, he made me shape-egg, crawfish, corn & potato, plate soup. He gave me a taste, then went to sit down and enjoy it for himself right out of the pot, where he exclaimed “Too Hot!! Iss too hot!!!”, then proceeded to blow upon the imaginary soup in his spoon, and finally slurp it up and exclaim “duh-yishush!”
That might have topped the cuteness of his sticking his hand into the toilet after he flushes to wave bye and say “Bye-yah poop”.