Mandy??? Zeff?????
 

Are you two ok???

Got my power on a few minutes ago and am in heaven. So tired of being hot, sweaty, washing clothes by hand, listening to battery powered radio and eating pure junk. Oh, the land of the living again!!! I thought I would never eat chocolate again in my life, but "phase H" really kicked in. I was able to finally get a salad today when a restaurant here opened up. All I want to do is go stock up on vegs and eat them till I explode. I never want to see a pop tart again (hey, I didn't even like them when I DID eat junk before SB)

It took 6 weeks to get my power back after Katrina, so I should really be greatful it's only been 6 days this time (of course it seems like an eternity)

Lots of trees and limbs down, but no major damage to my house. A house in the next block took a huge oak tree down the middle, but family is ok.

Yippee, another chick back in the nest. Welcome back.

Now we only have Mandy to worry about.

If Mandy is back, she may still be without power. It is coming back slowly but surely. There is a lot of line damage, trees down etc. I am really lucky that I came up so quick this time. I was the last street after Katrina, so I think I deserve it, right? She should be up soon. They just got downtown up last night, so I am really blessed.

Not only has it been unbearably hot, it is so humid that when I mopped my floors they stayed wet all day..it's been pretty disgusting. Grocery stores started opening yesterday, but I had no power to store anything fresh. I am hitting that store with a vengence tomorrow morning after I get some real sleep!

My only real hurricane experience was during a vacation in Hawaii to visit my sister. It hit two days after we arrived and blew every blossom off the island. Friends of my sister felt so bad that they gave us pictures they had taken so we could see what the area looked like without the hurricane damage. The electric came back on the night we were packing to go home.

It really was the most memorable Thanksgiving I ever had; we roasted everything she had in the freezer on their grill trying to use it up. We even made pumpkin pie, was offered $50.00 for it.

I am glad you are safe! Welcome back!

Hey, Cat. :) We got power back fairly quickly - we're on a hospital grid and the power company grid. It only took about 30 hours.

Glad to hear that you're ok and that there was no major damage.

Was the entire town at that one restaurant that opened? It was the same way here.....I felt like I hadn't had a hot meal in an eternity!

Mandy may still be evacuated, there are still a lot of people out. I don't know how long she had her reservations until, but she is in Arkansas - by the Tenn. border. She may be staying until she gets power back....I certainly would not want to leave air conditioning to come back to none!

Phase H kicked in around here as well - it seemed like all we did was eat. Whether we were playing cards with a bag of popcorn/pretzels or reading books with a chocolate bar in hand.....all the time. :)

Whew! Another Southern Chickie has checked in. Now we wait for Mandy. I had forgotten she had moved north.

I'm relieved to see you back, Cat! :hug: And I'm happy that you didn't have any major damage.

Glad you are ok. Been thinking about you.

welcome back.... glad you are ok....

the only major damage I had was milky ways, twix, snickers and pop tarts...

thanks everyone! It is so strange to feel "normal" again.

Zeff, so happy you got your power back so fast. I almost feel guilty because so many are still without it. I called everyone I knew who was still out to invite them to spend the night, but all had generators. I may invest in one of those things one day. One friend is coming over tomorrow to wash clothes and sheets.

I must admit - being without power would be so much better without young kids. DS wanted to watch cartoons so badly and couldn't understand why he couldn't.....also, there was no "adult time"...if you catch my drift.

I've heard that Slemco only has 11% of their customers still out and should have those connected again by next week. Cleco has about the same. I'm not sure which power company is available down there.

Hopefully we hear from Mandy soon.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah......pina coladas....virgin of course, but still ever so satisfying.

Cat I'm so glad you are safe! Prayers for Mandy to be home safe too!
Zeff Enjoy your Virgin Colada :D

Glad to see you back Cat. Get some good sleep tonight!

Boy am I glad I have SBD snack bars and my lightly salted dry roased peanuts. If my power goes out from Hanna I'm all set.

Hey Ladies!!!!

Just got my power back a little while ago...my parents have had power, but no internet...no real damage...fence is down at my house and my parents escaped untouched this time. We came back in town Tuesday evening with no power at either place, but thankfully my parents have a generator that ran the a/c. Work was also spared...thank goodness!!!

Cat and Zeff...so glad to hear you are both doing well!!!

Cat...I agree...I'm SO tired of eating junk that it's unreal!!!

Time to go put all the cold stuff back in the fridge!

Glad to be back girls...I can only imagine what I've missed!!

Glad to hear that all of you are back and made it through the storm.

Mandy, I'm glad you're OK! :) Now I can breathe a sigh of relief that all our girls are safe and sound. :grouphug:

I am so glad you are all fine! Now we just have to worry about Ike! :(

We had tornado warnings earlier in Connecticut, but no reports of any tornadoes as far as I know and I didn't see no hook shape anywhere which indicates a tornado so who knows.

Mandy, glad to hear you are ok too. Sorry about your fence. ouch. hope insurance will take care of the cost. After K, we replaced our wooden fence with a wire one with stakes and started growing jasmine vines on it. They are filling out nicely and it smells great when blooming. We figured if it ever went down again, we could just prop that baby up again.

Went to "the pig" yesterday and restocked my fridge, but only with essentials just in case Ike comes to call. I made a big pot of stewed chicken and we could not wait to get into it. Our first home cooked meal in a week!! The chicken I used was still slightly frozen when I sauted it. About an hour or so into cooking, I took the lid off to stir and it had a funky smell to it. the chicken was "bad". I was so mad. We ended up eating tuna fish salad instead.

Then around 6, the power went off again. Luckily it was just about 1.5 hours till it was back up again. I was getting ready to cry thinking I would lose yet more boxes of fudgesicles and popsicles which was the only thing I replaced in the freezer. I'm sure this will be happening for a while yet. I still hear a couple of generators running in the neighborhood this morning.

Great to read that Mandyleigh is back! Now my chickies are back in the nest.

Now that Hard Hearted Hannah is gone we need to worry about Icky Ike!

oh i hope IKE turns....

we were all prepared for Hannah and got nuthing but rain. tied down my chairs for NOTHING.... oy,.

glad everyone is safe and only slightly impacted.

Cat - our power went off the day after it came back on as well - we were without it for 3 hours....I cried.

Oh man, I hope Ike turns...I'm so sick of worrying about hurricanes. I wish DH was planning on going to law school in a northern state!

Have fun with cooking today - I wish my family raved about my food that much ALL the time :) Even though it was only a few days - I could have heated up dog food and it would have been the best meal ever.

-

Guys, I'm so glad to hear that Hanna wasn't bad. I was worried about it all day yesterday.

Zeff, just talked to my husband and the power at SLU is off again. They are back on generator power in his building which is the main frame computer for the university. Not good. He usually works from 8-5 on Sundays, but he had to go in from 5-2 today...which are his weekday hours. They have to have someone there 24/7 again till the power is working correctly. not good.

I have broken out with a rash on my face and upper chest. Don't know if it is "nerves" or from the heat when the power was out or from the crap I ate last week. ick. I'm not a rash person, so I have no idea. I took a Zyrtec and put benedryl cream on it and will skip working in the yard today. This whole week has been so sucky.

On a fun note, I ordered myself a birthday present yesterday. A weed flame thrower. The weeds have gotten so bad, that hand pulling them in the driveway is not an option. And, I hate using poison. It should be fun. It has a dolly for a propane tank that you haul around and blast weeds with. I can take out my aggresion on weeds!!!! whoosh!!! My boys both like playing with fire, so I'm sure the "huck finn" thing will take hold and they'll end up doing it.

My Mom and sister overnighted me 2 battery operated fans that are really neat. They got here last night, so at least I'll have them for the next one. gulp.

Glad you girls are back and are safe and sound. We had the post tropical Hannah here for a visit, lots of rain, and some streets are flooded, I can't imagine what you chicks go through.

LOL This thing looks crazy!!!! I can't wait to hear if it works well- all I can think of is when we used to burn piles of leaves in the yard and ended up with burn marks in the grass... but looks like this is much more targeted.... a flame thrower for weeds- whooda thunk it?!

Yep Rikki, should be fun! I have a very long gravel driveway. For years I've been hand pulling and spraying with round-up type stuff, but really don't want to use that poison and don't like fooling with it. Torching sounds like a better way to go! I used my little propane torch on some weeds in my brick patio and it was fun to "boil" them! the way it works is that it boils the water in the plant cells and they explode. Chemistry and gardening all in one!!

Sooo glad everyone is okay. :grouphug: I was thinking of you all.

Keeping :crossed: that Ike twirls away into nothing!

Cat, I don't know if you want to bother with spraying, but I hear vinegar (the really heavy-duty stuff you get at the hardware store, not the kind at the grocery store) works even better than Roundup on killing weeds. Just spray it on. Voila! :)