So Long, Gustav!

I feel so thankful that once again, we have been spared from the onslaught of a hurricane. Hurricane Gustav not only missed us, but it stayed far enough away that we haven't even seen a drop of rain. We did have some strong winds yesterday afternoon that I feel certain were related to the big storm, but nothing like what they are experiencing over in Louisiana. But I am relieved for them, too. What could have been a devastating category 4 or 5 hurricane weakened to a 3 and quickly to a 2 once making landfall. It also came in so quickly that it didn't produce the big storm surge everyone feared, nor did it drop the multitudes of rain that come with a slower hurricane.

Early on there was a possibility of Gustav coming our way, so we of course had our eyes glued to the news the last several days. My family almost skipped going to our annual family reunion this weekend because we weren't sure what was going to happen. We didn't want to be away from our house and not have enough time to prepare it should the storm head our way. Thankfully, Sunday morning, when we needed to leave for the reunion, we were able to make a fairly confident decision to go because it seemed definite that Gustav was not going to hit us. And even if it did, we believed we'd still have time to leave if necessary - we even had our reservations at a far away hotel just in case. I am glad we didn't end up needing them.

Bill spent all of Monday cutting plywood to fit every window of our house. So next time a storm does decide to strike, we won't have to worry so much about preparations. Now we just have to turn our attention to the other storms currently brewing out there and pray that they, too, stay far, far away!