Godspeed.

And Good Humor.


On the Interstate highway near our home, the citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast go by, inland bound as night falls here in Baton Rouge. Following them come the northermost long, blustery rain bands of Hurricane Gustav.


I've just returned from the last few errands: a couple of bags of ice, some milk and bananas, cookies and a few extra batteries. We are all set and in place for the storm tomorrow.


Next to the drugstore is a video rental place, its windows taped to prevent glass from shattering. Along with a drugstore and a very few other businesses, they will be open until quite late tonight, eager for last minute customers.


Yes, we know the power will go out, probably for longer than the three-day movie rental period, and I doubt that all the people taking advantage of the hurricane rental special owned a generator, but they rented movies anyway. Indeed, the movie rental store was doing brisk business. Even in the face of a hurricane, good humor prevails:

Click on the picture to make it bigger -- you really should read the lefthand side of the door: "Open till midnight --or apocalypse -- whichever comes first -- rent at your own risk -- your safety is not guaranteed!"



We are going to take a windy beating here in Baton Rouge, even this far inland, much as we did with Hurricane Andrew in 1992. No real flooding here unless your house is right along the banks of a river or bayou, but Andrew felled so many trees and otherwise provided so much wind damage in the Baton Rouge area that some parts of town were without power for almost two months. Andrew downed thousands of trees, countless power lines, and carried off many rooftops in our city. We may expect similar effects from Gustav, although it has weakened a little since earlier today.


This will be my last blog post for awhile, because we will certainly lose power -- maybe for hours, maybe for days, maybe for weeks -- and I will be busy with my real responsibilities.

If I am unable to post for more than a few days, I will contact Lisa Louie by phone, and she will post on my behalf, and give you updates via our conversations, as I don't have one of those cell phones you can blog with.


Lisa, thanks in advance.

To everyone else, thanks for the good thoughts. We sure need them down here.


"Knit on, through all crises." --Elizabeth Zimmermann


"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat." -- Roy Scheider


"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter Thompson.

Much obliged if you'd cross your fingers for us here in Baton Rouge, but for the folks of New Orleans, and especially the coastal areas which will take the full force of the storm surge and landfall, please invoke and appeal to the deity of your choice. They need it.