Hurricane Ida

 Well, I experienced a first this weekend...living through a hurricane. Last week the media began stating that a major hurricane was headed toward the South. By Friday we got word that school would be cancelled Monday because it was heading straight for us. I had been looking forward to enjoying a low-key weekend by myself while the boys and Rob helped a friend at his new camp. Work has been stressful and I was really looking forward to some down time to rejuvenate. Little did I know my weekend would be anything but relax while I rushed around, prepping the house for a hurricane and then racing out of town. 

Saturday morning I went to the gym for a "Hurricane Ida workout" (man, it was rough!). Then I had to go in for a skin biopsy. Once I left there I was hoping I could go back to the house to read and relax a bit before heading to my inlaws'. Wrong! The Weather Channel kept saying to have all prep done by the evening so people could evacuate by nightfall. The hurricane was coming in earlier than expected. Rob called and said he and the boys were heading straight to his parents' after they got done helping our friend and that I should plan to meet them there ASAP. So I rushed around the house, packing up irreplaceable things while putting other things up high in case our house took on water. I grabbed important insurance paperwork to put in our portable safe and made sure other things were in secure places. I packed suitcases with as many clothes as I could cram in so if the hurricane took down our house we wouldn't have to worry about buying new clothes. 

Sunday the hurricane started making its way toward Louisiana. I felt guilty because, while our friends stressed about the hurricane and loss of power, we enjoyed a nice family day together. We got donuts for breakfast, went to church together and then went to a petting zoo (where we had to cut our time short due to the rain). Once we left the petting zoo place we went to a sweet friend's house to celebrate her birthday. Sunday night I fell asleep after seeing all my friends' posts about how scary the hurricane was, how the wind was howling and they could feel their house move. I slept like a baby Sunday night while my friends were awake, wondering if a tree would fall through their house or if their windows would shatter.

Yesterday Rob decided to go to our house to access the damage. We had had a couple neighbors call with reports about our fence being down (which we expected) and a couple branches across our driveway. But we wanted to see it for ourselves. He and I drove the 3+ hours to our house, surveying the wind damage as we drove. Once we got to our house I was pleasantly surprised that the fence, downed branches and lost food due to the power outage was all we had to deal with. Rob and I worked as a team and were able to get back on the road within a couple hours. On our way back to his parents' house we stopped by our property to access the damage. We had learned that the eye went right over the town where our property is. From what we can tell, we lost some trees (the entrance was blocked by a downed tree and powerline) but I was surprised it wasn't worse. All around our property was destruction. Trees uprooted that fell across houses. Roofs missing. Powerlines down across the roads. Buildings ripped to shreds. So heartbreaking! It made me relieved that a) the eye of the hurricane shifted 20 miles east or that would've been the damage at our house and b) we hadn't built a house on that property. I can't imagine how overwhelmed the people around there felt yesterday with all the clean up they had to tackle.

While we were making our way back to my inlaws' the boys FaceTimed us to show us their new pets....baby squirrels. A neighbor had called and said that 2 babies had fallen out of their nest during the storm. The boys spent the day feeding them with an eye dropped and trying to warm them up. As of this morning, Ulysses and Tag are still with us but I don't know for how long. I don't know how to tell if baby squirrels are thriving but Ulysses and Tag acted more spirited last night than they are acting this morning. We are using Max's heat lamp (because, yes, we brought our gecko and 2 dogs with us. We left the chickens to fend for themselves...which they did.) to try to warm them up. Pretty soon the boys and I will go out and see what supplies we can get to help aid the squirrels' recovery.

All in all, things could've been way worse. We don't have power and don't know when it will be restored. As of now, school is cancelled because the schools have damage and/or are without power. Our house is pretty much put back in order so when we are able to go back to an air conditioned house our lives will resume like a strong Cat 4 hurricane did not tear up the state of Louisiana. Thankful for God's blessings and comfort during this time!