Well, we are home safe and sound.  Doug, the girls, and I went to Natchitoches, LA and stayed with my cousin and her husband to ride out Hurricane Gustav.  It was actually delightful.  I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with this cousin (technically she's my dad's cousin) but I enjoyed her company so much that I feel like I made a great new friend, almost another sister.  It was great.  Our air mattress sprung a leak (several years old, many sleep overs, a few camping trips, and lots of use during Hurricane Katrina) but all in all, the evacuation was really much more pleasant than most.  My cousin's husband took us on a tour of the fort in Natchitoches before the weather got really bad and it was quite fascinating.  I can't wait to go visit again just for fun.  Even our three dogs behaved!  We kept them in their kennels in the garage most of the time and walked/ran them often. I cooked a lot and spent lots of time just visiting, looking at old photos, and getting to know each other much better.  We tried playing the board game "Orient Express".  The rules are a little complicated but once you get going it's a lot of fun.  Time consuming but fun.

And now we are watching Hurricane Ike.  I'm not sure I'm going to evacuate again.  If it were just me, heck no.  But I have to consider my girls and my parents.  Mom says she's not leaving and, as always, I will go where she goes so that she and dad are not on their own.  That way, they have back-up muscle if they need it.  So, I go where they go regardless of what I want to do.  Such is life and duty to family.  Besides, it gives the girls time to spend with their grandparents.

Okay, back to straightening the house so we can tear it apart again.... I'm only putting bare essentials in the refrigerator and absoulutely nothing in the big freezer in case we have to throw everything out again. :).

Evacuating, losing everything in the fridge, spending a LOT of time in VERY close quarters with relatives is all a bit unsettling in many ways but at the same time I believe that you have to look for the silver linings and consider it a worthwile price to pay for living in as magnificent a city as New Orleans (which, by the way is up and running almost at full capacity already)!