Hurricane Season

As everyone knows here in the continental United States, hurricane season runs from May1st to November 30th. We are about half way thru the current season. Three years ago Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, and did millions of dollars worth of damage in Mississippi and Alabama. Although we did not suffer much damage, we were without electricity for about 72 hours thanks to Katrina.

Now, as we approach the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, there is another hurricane headed in the same general direction that was taken by Katrina. The possibility that this storm may follow the same path as Katrina has many people very nervous. It doesn't help that the forecasters are predicting that Gustav may reach catagory 3 strength, which is what Katrina was. Even as far away from the coast as we live, a hurricane with that much force is still capable of quite a bit of damage.

The last couple of days we had rain from what had been Hurricane Fay. By the time it reached us it was just a tropical depression. We received some beneficial rain, which we are thankful for. We are also thankful that we did not have rain in the amount that was seen in parts of Florida. Although our rainfall total has been a defecit this year, no one wants to receive a years worth of rain in a matter of days, or hours as in some cases. Too much of a good thing soon becomes a bad thing. Hurricanes are another reason that I wouldn't want to live too close to the shore. I just can't imagine the feeling of dread that homeowners must feel each time they are in the predicted path of a hurricane. Let's not even think about the damage that these storms can cause. I don't care what kind of structure it is, if it's subjected to 120 mph winds it's going to sustain some kind of damage.

While we keep an eye on the weather we continue to go about our daily lives. Randy has been having some side effects from the latest round of medicine that he is taking. We are hoping that the doctor can either adjust the dosage or change the prescription so that the side effects are minimized. Jeremy started back to school last week and except for transportation challenges things are going ok. Hopefully his vehicle will be out of the shop by the end of the week. Jacqueline started back to school on the 11th of this month and things are going fine for her. This is her last year of High School and thus we are getting set up to apply for scholarships for college. She is hoping to be able to get a scholarship for music. We have a new Band Director and are hopeful that he will be a big help in this area. For myself, I am doing pretty good, except that I am sore from taking a fall yesterday. I fell down our back steps and have several very colorful bruises as a result. Although the largest and most painful bruise is not visible to most people due to it's location, I am very well aware of it! Lesson learned! I will be MUCH more careful the next time those steps are wet.