Gustav Watch in Central Mississippi

Gustav is on his way. Am I worried? Not really. We are better prepared this time than when Katrina came blasting through 3 years ago. We have a gas water heater and I remembered to purchase some instant coffee so I will still be able to have some morning coffee.

Katrina was really a surprise for me, I figured we lived too far inland to be affected by a hurricane. Unfortunately I found out the hard way that high winds from what was still a category 1 at the time it reached us, will knock out power for several days. Not having power at home is one thing, but what was really rough was being low on gasoline for my car. The whole of central Mississippi (and of course the coast) was "down" so that meant no gas for anyone til the power was restored and when it finally did come back on in "patches" there were two and three hour waits in gas lines.

My area is now under a watch, with expected sustained winds to range from 45-50 MPG and gusts of 60-70, not to mention possible flooding, and being on the East side of the eye, we are expected to possibly be under tornado warning's off and on throughout this entire ordeal.

So far, in preparation for the arrival of Gustav I've bought TONS of batteries. D's for the flashlights, AAs for my color, handheld tv, and Cs for the radio - also loads of candles. Since my experience with Katrina I've learned that it's almost near impossible to find a bag of ice anywhere, so I am letting my icemaker work it's butt off. Everytime the ice-bin is full, I pour all the ice into a big bowl in the freezer and let the bin start filling up again. In order to avoid a bunch of good food going to waste, we've been eating from the fridge and freezer for the past 4 or 5 days. You know, all that stuff that you buy in the frozen food section to use as a "back-up-plan" for those times when you have nothing else to eat.

As for our food "if" the power goes out, we should be good-to-go there. I have two fresh loaves of whole grain bread, several cans of chunk-white-chicken, pb&j, several cases of water (I LOVE water), other assorted canned meat (that I will not eat, but my husband likes that sort of thing). We won't starve, that's for sure. I guess what I'm dreading is no a/c.

After Katrina, it was ok the rest of that day and night but the next few days without air were torture! The humidity was intense and everyone's tempers were even more hot. The only way to cool off was to hop in your car and drive around for about 20 minutes - which is where the problem of "no-gas" came into effect. Well, both vehicles are gassed up this time so we should be able to get cool from time to time that way.

Buckle up - it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

First Time Blogging - What to Blog About?

So here I am, all set up for fantastic ways to reach out to others and now my mind is a total blank. Although this is my first time using Blogger, I have posted the occasional blog on Myspace and Flylady - but they were short and generally intended for only friends/family to read what was going on in my daily life.

Eventually I hope to get more comfortable with doing this, adding fun graphics, telling WILD stories, asking questions, etc., but for now I guess I'll just do a short introduction for anyone interested - yeah, that's it - I need to introduce myself, let you know who I am in this giant world filled with millions of bloggers.

Well, I'm not someone famous, I'm just a housewife who loves to do everything from working on computers (taking them apart, installing new components, etc), to crossword puzzles and quilting. I enjoy making "folk art" from welding wire and I try my best to talk to my plants on a daily basis. My husband and I are proud parents of four cats and one dog. I love music and play a Fender p-bass, although not professionally.

Those are most of my passions in daily life and probably some great starting points to blog about. Get comfortable with me, pour yourself a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and get to know me. Some people on the outside would say I lead a boring life, but once you get a glimpse into everything I've been through in the past you will understand why I try to keep things as simple as possible in the present.

Please, bookmark my page or "favorite" it, because I will come out of my blogging block soon enough and everyone will be in for an interesting ride.

Take care,
Flwrchld