Thank you isn't enough!!!
Dear OFF family, the words "thank you" cannot begin to express the gratitude I feel towards all y'all! Your prayers, good wishes, love, and concern are/were so appreciated.
WE FINALLY HAVE ELECTRICITY!!! We are no longer Amish! In case any of you missed my post about some friends of ours saying George and I are one electric bill away from being Amish, because of our low electric bills and thrifty ways, that was a little joke. Our power came back around 3 this afternoon. George had to go in to work to do payroll. He took me along so I could enjoy a little A/C and not be stuck home in the hot house. When he finished at work, we stopped at Wendy's for a very late lunch. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a salad so much!. While there, our neighbor called to say the power had just come back on. Our neighbors across the street got powered up Thursday night @ 9. Go figure! They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the street, I guess the lights are brighter there too!
I understand some of you are anxiously awaiting, "The Adventures of George and Debbie". Well, here goes!
The trip to my sister's took about the same time as it would normally take - an hour or so. Before leaving home, I called R (sister) to ask if she needed anything. R asked that I bring a few rolls of toilet paper.
I thought that was a strange request, perhaps she was having a problem! She said definitely DO NOT bring anything for the frig or freezer, sorry, no room. Seems all available frig and freezer space had been taken up by a major donation from a nephew's (not one of R's sons, another sister's son) girlfriend's family. The GF's family lost everything, including their house in Slidell to Katrina, and they didn't want to waste all the food they had just bought at Sam's. So, we feasted pretty good while at R's house. We lost power across the lake around 9:30 Monday morning. Lots of rain and wind, pine trees swaying...minimal damage in R's neighborhood. BIL has a generator too, so we were able to keep food safe and TV on. Not a good idea to run computer by generator - sudden surge or lack of power could fry it. R's laptop battery died. Woke early Tues. morning to head home. Managed to pass three Gestapo checkpoints of State Police. Just about home, and we got stopped by a Jefferson Parish policewoman who was less than friendly. She asked were we thought we were going. When we said we had passed three checkpoints, she was baffled! Said she'd radio ahead to let the next checkpoint know we were on our way. THANK YOU officer! Got stopped again about 8 miles closer to home with only about 2 miles to go! "Where do you think you're going?" Again, we just want to go home! THANK YOU officer... Finally home after a little more than 2 hours. We did have to take the long way home - yep, the 25 mile bridge is not the long way - actually that's the short way!
I must say GIII was not the pain in the butt I thought he'd be. I think he actually enjoyed his little adventure. We managed to swing by the restaurant he manages - couldn't actually get out of the car to check, but a drive by assured him all windows were in tact, and no visible damage. Also passed by one of the other restaurants owned by GIII's boss, again no visible damage. His boss was happy to hear the news. His original flagship restaurant did not fair as well, loss of power for too long cause some food to spoil. Anyway...back home, car unloaded, house and neighbors' houses checked. Mostly small branches and leaves all over. One neighbor's gate blew down, another, several houses down has some siding blown off. Can we say Thank you God! GIII got in his van and went home - called a few minutes later to say he had power, also no major damage, mostly tree debris. Tons of leaves and twigs in pool. While I contacted neighbors via cell to assure them all was OK, George got the generator cranked up to try to save the contents of freezer and frig. Generator running, we took on the task, as we did after Katrina, to clean up the neighborhood. We raked and swept from our corner, down four houses on either side of the street. Two neighbors mentioned on their return that nothing looked out of place, that you couldn't tell we'd had storm. DUH, the energizer bunnies (that's the nicknames we were given after Katrina) were at it again. Even with the generator, which can't be run constantly, we did lose most everything in the frig, but the freezer faired out well. We'd check once or twice a day, and take out what seemed to be thawing. Between cooking at GIII's and grilling at home, we've feasted on rib eyes, pork loin, fish, and large shrimp along with fresh eggplant from the garden the last few days! Did laundry at GIIII's one evening and jumped into a very clean but cold pool.
You know, I thought life would be difficult without electricity, but it ain't so bad. A bit warm and humid yes, but not intolerable. Our living room ceiling fan is a plug in, so George devised a way to hook it up to the generator at night, and dragged the matress downstairs to the living room. Ah, cool air makes for a better night's sleep! My biggest complaint - mosquitoes - dang, I'm all chewed up from talking with the neighbors outside after dark - which comes pretty early when you don't have electricity!
Grocery stores have limited supplies. We went today - almost no fresh meat, veggies, fruit, nor cold cuts. Daughter says in Eunice (WalMart), the only dairy was some milk, and not much of that, also no meat.
Sorry to be so wordy!
Nurse son, Danny made out pretty well too, some roof damage, about 25 ft of fencing down along with a gate. His power was back up late yesterday. He went to work Sun. morning at 6, and finally got to leave Thurs. morning at 6, only to return at 7 Thurs. night. Former DIL and Ethan are back home safe and sound after a trip to Memphis, her power was on since Wed. morning. Daughter, SIL, and Gabe came through the storm OK, some fence damage, loss of power, but luckily a neighbor had a generator and let them plug in to run their frig and a fan. When asked what he thought of his first hurricane, Gabe said "COOL!" SIL's mom in Lafayette, where Gustav did more damage, faired out well until afterward while cleaning her yard. She got stung by a bee (she's allergic) and wound up in the ER - fine now!
GIII went back to work yesterday with a limited menu at restaurant. I was going stir crazy, so George and I took a break and rode over there for something cold to drink. Today, he was up and running with full menu and almost full staff.
Mom, my three sisters and their families are all fine, minimal damage, power restored. One sister and Mom had some sewerage problems - not able to flush toilets, wash dishes, or take showers since sewerage system in Jefferson Parish is run by electric company power. Our sewerage system in N.O. generates its own power, so at least we could
with no worries.
Again, a really big THANK YOU. I love you all!
Debbie
WE FINALLY HAVE ELECTRICITY!!! We are no longer Amish! In case any of you missed my post about some friends of ours saying George and I are one electric bill away from being Amish, because of our low electric bills and thrifty ways, that was a little joke. Our power came back around 3 this afternoon. George had to go in to work to do payroll. He took me along so I could enjoy a little A/C and not be stuck home in the hot house. When he finished at work, we stopped at Wendy's for a very late lunch. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a salad so much!. While there, our neighbor called to say the power had just come back on. Our neighbors across the street got powered up Thursday night @ 9. Go figure! They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the street, I guess the lights are brighter there too!
I understand some of you are anxiously awaiting, "The Adventures of George and Debbie". Well, here goes!
The trip to my sister's took about the same time as it would normally take - an hour or so. Before leaving home, I called R (sister) to ask if she needed anything. R asked that I bring a few rolls of toilet paper.
I thought that was a strange request, perhaps she was having a problem! She said definitely DO NOT bring anything for the frig or freezer, sorry, no room. Seems all available frig and freezer space had been taken up by a major donation from a nephew's (not one of R's sons, another sister's son) girlfriend's family. The GF's family lost everything, including their house in Slidell to Katrina, and they didn't want to waste all the food they had just bought at Sam's. So, we feasted pretty good while at R's house. We lost power across the lake around 9:30 Monday morning. Lots of rain and wind, pine trees swaying...minimal damage in R's neighborhood. BIL has a generator too, so we were able to keep food safe and TV on. Not a good idea to run computer by generator - sudden surge or lack of power could fry it. R's laptop battery died. Woke early Tues. morning to head home. Managed to pass three Gestapo checkpoints of State Police. Just about home, and we got stopped by a Jefferson Parish policewoman who was less than friendly. She asked were we thought we were going. When we said we had passed three checkpoints, she was baffled! Said she'd radio ahead to let the next checkpoint know we were on our way. THANK YOU officer! Got stopped again about 8 miles closer to home with only about 2 miles to go! "Where do you think you're going?" Again, we just want to go home! THANK YOU officer... Finally home after a little more than 2 hours. We did have to take the long way home - yep, the 25 mile bridge is not the long way - actually that's the short way!I must say GIII was not the pain in the butt I thought he'd be. I think he actually enjoyed his little adventure. We managed to swing by the restaurant he manages - couldn't actually get out of the car to check, but a drive by assured him all windows were in tact, and no visible damage. Also passed by one of the other restaurants owned by GIII's boss, again no visible damage. His boss was happy to hear the news. His original flagship restaurant did not fair as well, loss of power for too long cause some food to spoil. Anyway...back home, car unloaded, house and neighbors' houses checked. Mostly small branches and leaves all over. One neighbor's gate blew down, another, several houses down has some siding blown off. Can we say Thank you God! GIII got in his van and went home - called a few minutes later to say he had power, also no major damage, mostly tree debris. Tons of leaves and twigs in pool. While I contacted neighbors via cell to assure them all was OK, George got the generator cranked up to try to save the contents of freezer and frig. Generator running, we took on the task, as we did after Katrina, to clean up the neighborhood. We raked and swept from our corner, down four houses on either side of the street. Two neighbors mentioned on their return that nothing looked out of place, that you couldn't tell we'd had storm. DUH, the energizer bunnies (that's the nicknames we were given after Katrina) were at it again. Even with the generator, which can't be run constantly, we did lose most everything in the frig, but the freezer faired out well. We'd check once or twice a day, and take out what seemed to be thawing. Between cooking at GIII's and grilling at home, we've feasted on rib eyes, pork loin, fish, and large shrimp along with fresh eggplant from the garden the last few days! Did laundry at GIIII's one evening and jumped into a very clean but cold pool.
You know, I thought life would be difficult without electricity, but it ain't so bad. A bit warm and humid yes, but not intolerable. Our living room ceiling fan is a plug in, so George devised a way to hook it up to the generator at night, and dragged the matress downstairs to the living room. Ah, cool air makes for a better night's sleep! My biggest complaint - mosquitoes - dang, I'm all chewed up from talking with the neighbors outside after dark - which comes pretty early when you don't have electricity!
Grocery stores have limited supplies. We went today - almost no fresh meat, veggies, fruit, nor cold cuts. Daughter says in Eunice (WalMart), the only dairy was some milk, and not much of that, also no meat.
Sorry to be so wordy!
Nurse son, Danny made out pretty well too, some roof damage, about 25 ft of fencing down along with a gate. His power was back up late yesterday. He went to work Sun. morning at 6, and finally got to leave Thurs. morning at 6, only to return at 7 Thurs. night. Former DIL and Ethan are back home safe and sound after a trip to Memphis, her power was on since Wed. morning. Daughter, SIL, and Gabe came through the storm OK, some fence damage, loss of power, but luckily a neighbor had a generator and let them plug in to run their frig and a fan. When asked what he thought of his first hurricane, Gabe said "COOL!" SIL's mom in Lafayette, where Gustav did more damage, faired out well until afterward while cleaning her yard. She got stung by a bee (she's allergic) and wound up in the ER - fine now!
GIII went back to work yesterday with a limited menu at restaurant. I was going stir crazy, so George and I took a break and rode over there for something cold to drink. Today, he was up and running with full menu and almost full staff.
Mom, my three sisters and their families are all fine, minimal damage, power restored. One sister and Mom had some sewerage problems - not able to flush toilets, wash dishes, or take showers since sewerage system in Jefferson Parish is run by electric company power. Our sewerage system in N.O. generates its own power, so at least we could
with no worries.Again, a really big THANK YOU. I love you all!
Debbie
Ah, my friend, you're back with us!
It was wonderful to talk to you last week, and have told many people that my friend in NO fared better than we have up here from our bully Gus. I have clients who haven't had electricity since Tuesday and we're 12 inches over our average rain fall totals.
Now our sites turn to Ike. I DON'T LIKE IKE!!!!! I'm praying you don't have to do this all over again. You mayor says people spent lots of money leaving for Gustuv, might not have the resources to do it again and it's a worry.
You know my prayers are with you and your loved ones during what is looking to be a terrible hurricane season.
Love and hugs
It was wonderful to talk to you last week, and have told many people that my friend in NO fared better than we have up here from our bully Gus. I have clients who haven't had electricity since Tuesday and we're 12 inches over our average rain fall totals.
Now our sites turn to Ike. I DON'T LIKE IKE!!!!! I'm praying you don't have to do this all over again. You mayor says people spent lots of money leaving for Gustuv, might not have the resources to do it again and it's a worry.
You know my prayers are with you and your loved ones during what is looking to be a terrible hurricane season.
Love and hugs
Susan
Debbie!
yay! I went to bed last night with you and your family on my mind so this morning when I got up and saw your post...I was very happy to see you on here and that you were all safe and sound!
Very glad to see you!
Cheryl
yay! I went to bed last night with you and your family on my mind so this morning when I got up and saw your post...I was very happy to see you on here and that you were all safe and sound!
Very glad to see you!
Cheryl
We never touch people so lightly we do not leave a trace.
Peggy Tabor Millin
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