It’s Saturday evening, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Securities & Emergency Preparedness press conference is on the television in the background as I write this. Depending on the wiggle of Gustav once it’s in the Gulf of Mexico, we’ll either have winds of 50-90 mph with gusts up to 100 or we’ll fasten our seat belts and pray for the best of the worst.
We stopped at the grocery this afternoon for a last stock up of dry goods. My husband bought enough cans of soup to feed the neighborhood. I reminded him that when it’s 120 degrees in the house, soup’s not exactly my meal of choice. He gave me “the face.” I dropped the issue and strolled down another aisle for the essentials…cookies and chocolate.
We have a tiny, battery-powdered television and radio. During Katrina, we turned it on just to watch and hear the fuzz. Yesterday, Ken reloaded it with fresh batteries. Hope springs eternal.
The news station just showed the interstate traffic heading out. Actually, not so much heading out as snailing out. Contraflow starts at four o’clock Sunday morning. I’m just a tiny bit curious about how that’s going to work. Sending sleepy people down major interstates in opposite directions wouldn’t be my first choice. If you’ve ever driven in Louisiana, you’d know that plan’s rife for trouble.
I’m tired of watching swirling circles of blue, green, yellow, orange and red on local weather stations moving closer and closer to my shoreline. Three words I’m going to expunge from my vocabulary: cone of uncertainty. The only cone I’m interested in is one that has Blue Bell ice cream shoved into it.
Gustav’s expected to make landfall as a Category 4 sometime late Monday or early Tuesday. Hanna is putzing around somewhere behind him. I’m so grateful that Louisiana’s being led by Gov. Bobby Jindal, a man of God, who has foresight, logic, and composure.
But, in the final analysis, God’s in control. So, here’s my scripture for today: We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
ate officials who are coordinating the state’s response.
