What’s On Stacy’s mind?
What’s On Stacy’s mind?
“Isaac” means “He who Laugh’s”
I am not Laughing.
Perhaps I will tomorrow.
Isaac struck New Orleans on the 7 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
I should have left. I made a wrong choice.
It was not fun.
I tried to evacuate but my Car needed a new tire and I had procrastinated on ordering on. Evacuating takes many hours and I certainly did not want to get stuck with a flat during an evacuation where AAA wouldn’t be able to help me. After many conversations back and forth between my daddy, my son and my friends I decided to just stay home and stick it out.
“Hunker Down,” the news called it.
Either the storm came up super fast, or I was not paying much attention. It seemed like a lot of people had decided to stay. When you live in South Louisiana, occasional evacuations are just something you have to do once in a while. Especially when you live in New Orleans.
The storm didn’t seem like it was going to be that bad as it was only a tropical storm the night before.
So, I chose to stay home and ride out the storm.
I’m thinking to myself, “As long as I have my paints, my activities, books, movies, food and my iphone, I am good to go. We have a generator so it shouldn’t be too uncomfortable when the electricity goes out.” At least that was what I told myself.
(Behind those Clouds, Isaac is already laughing. I just didn’t know it yet)
I did my supply shopping and we picked up all of the potted plants and patio furniture around the property. By Tuesday night, I was ready .
Then, the winds started to blow. I could hear it howling in my fireplace. Scary sounding wind pounded the house all night long. I drank a glass of wine but it was not enough to make me sleep.
I am thinking at this point that I should have taken my artwork to higher ground.
The wind blew
and blew.
and blew.
and Blew.
When I woke up Wednesday morning, it had turned into a hurricane. The winds had howled all night and I had barely slept. At 6:30 AM I mentioned that I was happy, we still had air conditioning and electricity throughout the night. I should have kept my mouth shut, because right after the words left my lips the power went off just as the weather was really cranking up.
Yes, Isaac was laughing. We had all thought it was just going to be just a little storm.
Wednesday was a difficult day. I must have been in survival mode. I kept eating, and eating. Everybody was posting on Facebook that they couldn’t stop eating. Why was that?
The wind was blowing so hard and the rain was coming in sideways, we couldn’t open a window to get some air. My house is well insulated, but I couldn’t help but to think of the people who’s houses weren’t built so well. It gets pretty stuffy in the middle of a hurricane.
We tried to start the Generator and it wouldn’t start.
Who’s laughing now? Not me.
The wind and rain continued all night and through Thursday afternoon. Without a generator to keep the cold stuff in my freezer I knew what I would have to do. I did what any self respecting southern woman does. I COOKED. Good thing for a Gas stove. Thursday was spent cooking everything in the freezer so it wouldn’t go bad. I figured I could feed the firemen at the firehouse if I couldn’t find enough neighbors to eat all of this food.
When we were finally able to get out of the house, we realized our subdivision was trapped by giant sandbags and water from the storm surge from Lake Ponchartrain. When the tide came in, rivers crested, Bayou’s overflowed and the Old Town area flooded within a matter of minutes. The rescue teams were rushing to get people out. The same thing was happening in the western part of the state where people got 12” of water into their house within a matter of minutes when the levee broke.
The good thing about Facebook is that everybody was able to give reports of the area’s which they had information on.
I almost felt like I was reliving Katrina all over again. I posted on Facebook that we didn’t have coffee and my neighbor brought me a percolator. I didn’t even know how to use a percolator. I do like saying the word, ‘percolator’. I cooked my coffee like my Grandma did and the coffee was the blackest coffee I ever had. (I now have hair on my chest). It did the trick though. I was so grateful to my neighbor for her generosity.
Late on Thursday afternoon, I read a post from my neighbor on Facebook. She was in a panic because the town where they were staying had an emergency evacuation because a dam was starting to break. I sensed her panic and called her up with the best route to get back home. She was so happy to know that she could come home to her Air conditioning.
Thanks to Facebook, we all stayed informed about who was where and what was going on and how high the water was here and there.
I evacuated for Katrina, but I came back to a mess. It was very difficult coming back after such a tragedy.
I seriously underestimated this storm and after riding out this Category 1 hurricane I have made a Firm Decision that,
“As God is my Witness,
I will never stay home for another
Hurricane Again.”
Next time a storm comes, You will not find me at home, you will find me at a hotel that has a great spa.
Now, because I ate my caloric intake for two weeks in just a few days I will have to spend extra, extra time at the gym working it off. I seriously think I gained weight. I’m scared to step on the scale.
Isaac is still laughing because now, we all feel like big fatty’s.
Love,
Stacy
Thursday, August 30, 2012