Mom's turn: Playing with Gustav

Okay – so I was wrong! We got hit by Hurricane Gustav harder than I thought we might…and by us living in East Baton Rouge Parrish, we got the worst of the worse :-/ That’s the pros and cons of living in a very old neighborhood in the very far South! We have some gorgeous ancient trees all around us: live oaks, magnolias, cow oaks, and crape myrtles. None of them enjoyed the 50 mph sustained winds we endured for four hours with gusts topping 90 mph! We were actually luckier than most; we suffered minor damage with some shingles lost, several limbs down around the house,

Travis was ready to begin cleanup as soon as possible!

The boys weren't happy with the new way the yard was rearranged!

and some window damage in Christina’s room. The biggest inconvenience is the loss of electricity, but hopefully that won’t be long. We walked around the neighborhood to survey the rest of the damage and offer our help where needed.

Hope you're good with directions if you visit - street signs are whacky in Louisiana!

We met some very interesting neighbors while we were out:

The crazy cat lady – who informed us, while we were helping cut tree limbs so she could evacuate since a tree smashed her house, that she had TWENTY cats INSIDE and 10 or more outside!!!!!!!!!!
The southern white trash – who played ON THE ROOF during the hurricane and, in the middle of the worst part, drank themselves into a stupor while perched in lawn chairs in the middle of street!!!!!!!!!!!
The curiously quiet – people who passed us in such a state of shock that they couldn’t even respond to the polite acknowledgement of hello but rather just stared like they were seeing a ghost or something.

We were also reminded, again, at how very lucky we really are as we saw tree after tree on all the neighbors houses and cars – poor Clara Belle even saw her best friend and neighbor smashed to pieces!!!!

NOT MINE!!!!!!!!!!

In all seriousness, this storm took the lives of several people and we will remember them and their families in our prayers tonight and thank God that we were spared.

Samsom STILL thought it was time to play! He even found this wonderful new ball that was blown into his yard!