...got power...................

[madjack]

...well we got power on last nite(Sat)(power went out Mon at 3PM)...a big thank you goes out to our local power co(CLECO), the crews from around the country that came to help out and specifically to the crews from Durant OK, that got the power up and working on our street...they all went above and beyond to restore power and continue to do so........

...we were pretty lucky...except for lotssa limbs down, nothing hit the house, boat, tractor, car or tear..we had trees down all around us that took out the main electrical trunk in about a dozen places in about a 2mi stretch...we had 8.5"s of rain Mon/Tues and just when it looked to be over we got hit by a wall of water on Wed morn that dropped 9.5"s of rain in just 2 hours...this flooded lotssa stuff especially Alexandria(pop. 50,000) which had 4 to 6 feet of water covering the entire city...this has not happened since the Great Mississippi Flood back in the early 1900's...most of the area has now had power restored and The State, FEMA, local officials and the common man on the street did an impressive job of responding the the crisis...1.9million people evacuated the Gulf coast for this and about half of them came thru our area...the State had spent 20million bucks buying generators and came thru, distributing them to grocery stores and gas station so in the midst of chaos, most folks were able to get the items they needed to survive...very strange to see these little oasis of light and activity in the midst of darkness and destruction...a big A+ to the State for this effort....

...an unabashed plug for O2Cool fans...we had bought a 5" and a 10" model on sale last winter...these 2 fans were the difference between being very comfortable and misery...I HIGHLY recommend them, battery life for the 5" model was ??? I don't know since it has run for 5 days with the 4 "D" cells it takes...the 10" model ran for about 2 days before needing to replace the 8"D" cells it runs on...the great generator debate continues since a couple of friends with 5-6000Watt generators were using 10-15gals of gas per day to run them...that is pretty expensive electricity, plus the hassle of finding gas for them...

...well that is about all for now, except to say thanks for all the prayers and well wishes that came our way..now to restock and wait to see which way IKE goes...I don't wish him on anyone but sure hope he decides on someone besides us for his landfall!!!!!!!!

STAY SAFE....
madjack

[Juneaudave]

Glad to see you guys doing well!!!

[mikeschn]

Glad to see you back MJ. We've all been wondering and waiting to hear how you guys fared. I'm glad you fared well, well, as well as can be expected.

So go and stock up, and then come back and join us!

Mike...

[Nitetimes]

Glad to hear you came thru it relatively unscathed Jack.
Watch out for that next one!! Hopefully it'll blow by ya.

[swissarmygirl]

Welcome back MJ! Glad to see you are OK!

[Lgboro]

Good to hear you guys didn't have any major damage in your area. Hanna was little more than a heavy thunderstorm here although I do have some roof damage and a gabillion limbs to pick up. Not complaining as the power was only out 7 hours and the eye went over us. Hope Ike leaves you alone!

[Miriam C.]

Wow! I'll admit to not watching the news a whole lot but you would thing a town under water would have at least got an honorable mention.

HIJack! Happy to hear you will only spend the rest of the month getting limbs up. Or you could leave them down like we did. Makes the neighbors shun ya though.

[Steve_Cox]

Welcome back to what's left of the world MJ

[toypusher]

Glad to hear you came thru it relatively unscathed Jack.
Watch out for that next one!! Hopefully it'll blow by ya.

Glad your OK MJ, but like Rich says watch out for the next one (Ike)!!!

[S.A.Mike]

Glad you are back Jack,been shooting out good wishes all week to you and yours

[jdarkoregon]

Welcome back MJ, we need your leadership

John

[madjack]

http://tinyurl.com/6msxva

...the above is a link to some pics from the flooding and other aftermath of Gustav...for those who may be interested...parts of Alexandria that are prone to flooding got 6'+ of water and other parts got 2-4' of water...many of the areas that flooded have never done so in anyones recent memory...keep in mind that Alexandria DOES NOT sit in a bowl like New Orleans but rather at 89' above sea level...the 9.5"s of rain that fell the day after Gustav hit, fell in about 2hours, around 4 to 6 AM...it fell on a city without electricity so any pumps that the city had to help out with drainage where without power and the water rose and fell in just a few hours...the highest recorded wind speeds at the local airport where around 72mph but much of the really heavy damage was done by much higher speed, straight line winds and hurricanadoes...there are other pics in the "Photo Gallery" section on the site linked to.......
madjack

[Catoosa Grani]

MJ I am so relieved to hear you and the PG are o.k. I stayed glued to the weather channel for several days but they wouldn't tell me how you were doing. Imagine that? Any way I am so happy to hear you got through safely, so far. We certainly have you in our thoughts and prayers.

Grani

I have a very dear friend that owns a restaurant in Jena and I hope to talk to her soon. We have known each other all our lives. Another one lives in Clinton and I am really worried about them both.

[madjack]

Grani, Jena(25mi from us) caught their share but overall, fared fairly well so your friend should be OK...can't tell ya much about Clinton...do you know the name of your friends restaurant????...Marlene(aka the poor girl) and I go and eat at a couple of different restaurants over that way on occasion.....
madjack

[mandy]

MJ I'm glad that you're ok. I sure hope and pray that this new storm fizzles out before it gets to your side of the country.

Mandy