Gustav

    

Well, it looks like Hurricane Gustav is going to rack havoc on New Orleans again!  It's currently a category 3 Hurricane, it is supposed to be a 5 before it hits the coast (could hit anywhere from Mississippi to Galveston/Houston area) and we just found out that there are 250 buses in route from New Orleans full of evacuee's, there will be even more I'm sure before this is through. As of right now there is a mandatory evacuation order in affect for the coast of Louisiana, I really hope those new Levee's can handle whatever is coming.  The roads out of Louisiana are now in a "Contra Flow" which means the roads all are for outgoing traffic, there is no incoming, the airport is closing...trains etc. have been brought in to evacuate people too.  N.O. is under a MANDATORY evacuation, that means they are going door to door throughout the city to make sure people are gone or going.  One big plus about people's pets?  There is much more control over what will happen to them...the owners that have to leave their loved furry ones with the shelters (not shelters in N.O.  they are being sent out of the danger area they  are BOTH (the pets and their humans) given colored tag's and bracelets to connect them with each other... so hopefully there will be far, far less abandonment of animals. (Ask Indigo about this, She will tell you the story about Pickles, her help dog and the trauma her baby went and still goes through)  I remember when Katrina hit...it was awful, I helped in the stadiums with the evacuee's, food, clothing, water, personal care items etc.  Texas took in 100's of 1000's of evacuee's, I believe the state is slated to accept 40,000 + with this storm.  I feel so very badly for these people and their furry children, say some fervent prayers ok?

I'd like to make a point that I don't know how many of you thought about when Katrina devastated New Orleans... maybe some of you wondered why so many people stayed instead of evacuating? Consider this...the majority of the lower 9th ward in N.O. are at or below poverty level, elderly - they had no car's, no way of transportation...they had no credit cards for hotels, or gas if they did have a car, no extra food etc.  In other words, the one's with money got out, the poor were deserted and forgotten.  (the middle and more well to do and WELL to do people live in the "high ground" part of N.O.  the poor live in the lowest (below sea level) With the  way things were organized in N.O. at the time (which was very DIS organized - no one really knew what to do) this time it was planned for...all those unused buses that were seen stair deep in water just sitting in parking lots? they are being used.  Trains? they are being used...planes were used as long as the airport stayed open (it closed at 6 a.m. this morning) ... Boost Cell Phone Co. is not charging anyone for using their cell phones in this area of the country because of the storm...the levee's were hopefully repaired and updated to withstand the stormsurge (waves and incoming coastal waters of 18 feet or more).  The winds (if it reaches a category 5) will be 156 miles per hour...higher wind gusts, 23 FEET of storm surge! that is a huge wall of water that will submerge N.O. again, no, not all the levee's are fixed and sadly no matter how much I hope and pray, I don't think they will withstand this if it gets as bad as they think it will be.

  Hey, Mr. Bush are you going to fly over N.O. this time and look pooh faced at the loss of lives,  property and the general destruction??? You would not know your freaking well privilaged, born with a silver spoon in your mouth, head from a hole in the ground. Grrrrrrr. I still remember his response to Katrina, just as I remember the cretin sitting in the classroom reading to children with no emotion or rather stupidity written on his face when 9/11 was going on.  Anyone that knows me knows I despise Geeeeeorge Double Yah Bush, but then I am FAR from the only one.

Was listening to the news last night and you know what some ass**** and yes that's a bad word but that is one of the only one's I can think of for the fool...he wrote in and said, just how much money will it cost the taxpayers THIS time?  I'm thinking (I thought all kinds of things as  you can imagine) what if something catastrophic happened to the area you happen to live in?  Would you NOT wish to have help from the government? or from any other venue for that matter?  What if your insurance company (if you have one) finds some little loophole that allows it to deny you any kind of reimbursement to help you rebuild or whatever?  talk about lack of compassion?

Someone on the news this morning emailed in and said "why weren't the Farmers crying when their flooding went on earlier this summer?" making N.O. sound like whiners...hey, Mr. Macho? you can watch the river rise and know to get the hell out of the way and move... what are you going to do with a 23 foot tall tower of water crashing down on you? and 100 plus mile an hour winds. Puhleeze...no I'm not putting down in any way the tragedy the Farmers went through, it hurt them too. But with a Hurricane the size of Gustav?  It's like a tornado hitting...except instead of skipping over you?  it STAYS for a little while with no relenting.

Everybody make sure and say a prayer for these people and for me? even more importantly their pets...they will need it.  It sounds like it might hit a little Southwest of N.O.  so HOPEFULLY won't hit it directly.  No matter where it hits once it reaches land it is going to do damage to whatever community it creates landfall.

You know what makes me truly sad too?  Is the fact that some of these people have just finished rebuilding...there are many that aren't finished yet/still in the process...and here, on the anniversary of Katrina and Rita... here comes Gustav.

Don't forget Tropical Storm Hannah out there in the Atlantic.

Regardless of not getting the full Hurricane here, we will be getting LOTS of rain from the sounds of it...If the Hurricane goes on the projected path that it is on now? it will come straight up over us in Texas...not the full Hurricane mind you, but some heavy winds and rain.

Okay I'm done. I'll probably write more later.  Just pray ok?  Light a Candle? Smoke on the wind....

Blessings**