JBCoupe-1, Frances-0....

*First, let me say that we are extremely lucky being this far north, not to have suffered any truly devistating effects of the hurricane. So many people have lost so much more, and my prayers are with them. Although I was inconvenienced for a few days, I still have my home, my posessions, and most importantly, my family. For this, I am truly thankful....

After 4 days of sporatic electrical outages, constant rain and lukewarm food....I think it's over. Man, what a storm! While I had power, I was following the satellite images on the NOAA sight, and they were awesome. I actually saved one of them as my background.

We lost power on Saturday evening, and didn't get it back until 4 am on Tuesday....do you know how long that is in terms of not being able to vacuume? I have to say, by Monday I was getting the shakes, and refused to even look at the carpet as I walked along. Our house stayed reasonably comfortable, due in part to the shutters. Although, we did end up taking them down on Sunday, in the rain, as I just couldn't stand another day in "the hole". As Betsy said, it was like being in solitary confinement. So, drill in hand we went outside and removed the shutters. It was like a rebirth....everything in the house glowed with new life....actually, you really couldn't see much of anything, since it was raining and cloudy, but you get the idea.

I am so thankful that we had the generator. We would run it 4 hours at a time, with a 4-5 hour reprieve. We had it hooked up to the fridge and freezer, a light and my small tv....although dh didn't think the little tv was good enough, and ended up hooking up our regular tv and satellite system. I didn't think that was a good idea, as wee one would want to watch cartoons, and dh would want to watch some stupid car/truck movie....but it all worked out well. We ended up watching funny things, to raise spirits....

My parents fared better than we did....as they had electricity most of the time. They did have about a 6 hour stretch with no lights, and once it came on, it went off again for another 2 hours, but other than that, they did well. Of course, the electricity decided to go out just as my dad was lowering his new electric hospital bed....so he had to actually climb over the handrail to get out! Their house was spared any damage as well....which I am thankful for.

Yesterday morning at 4 am, the electricity finally came on....you wouldn't believe how happy I was. I immediately jumped out of bed and started vacuuming! I had most of the house cleaned when, horrors, the electric went out again! I couldn't believe it. I walked outside and there were all my neighbors, in their driveways on cell phones. Curse words were a-flyin at that point! "What the &*%$? We just got it back!" "I know, I was in the middle of *#^%@& cooking dinner!" I called dh and told him, so he stopped at Lowes on the way home, bought two new gas cans and filled them up. When he got home he said, "We are going to run this (#&^$ thing non-stop!" LOL....the first thing I did? Yes, you got it....I plugged my vacuume in and finished cleaning up! (Hey, we've all got priorities....)

My mom saved the day and made dinner for us. (Thank GOD, because we were getting sick of hot dogs and pop tarts!) We went over and surveyed some of the damage around town along the way. Surprisingly (and thankfully), there wasn't much. A few trees were down, a few shingles were tossed about, and we did see one houseboat that sunk. I felt sorry for the owners! All you could see was the roof sticking out of the water. Again, we came home to a dark house....around 4 am this morning (what is it with 4 am?) the electric went on....and hopefully it's here to stay this time.

Well, I think I will go brew a pot of coffee, and make some blueberry pancakes. Then, I'll take a nice hot shower, and blow dry my hair. After that, I'll do some wash, and maybe surf the web for a while....you gotta love electricity!

**I just want to say THANK YOU to all of those who sent e-mails, wondering if everything was okay with my family, and sending prayers our way. I truly believe it helped! I feel so blessed to have made such wonderful and caring friends here in j-land. You guys are the greatest! ((((hugs))))