Checking In.

Lost power Monday morning at home. Got it back last night.

Lost power at the hospital Monday afternoon, and was on emergency generator til Wednesday. Had some lights, some wall power, no ac.

(note: the sick mentally ill/ addicts are not a whole lotta fun with no ac and on a locked unit.)

We have a friend that is staying with us due to the oak tree sitting on her house/car.

The hospital "encouraged: folks to stay Monday, but once my shift was done and relief showed up, I left for home. I heard they locked the parking gates shortly after I escaped. My place is with my wife and child.

Other than some high winds/rain, and some downed trees and power lines to drive around (yes, I detoured around them unlike the others that drove under them), made it home to my wife and child ok.

Curfew is still in effect (10pm - 6 am), and some areas are going to be out of power for about 4 to 6 weeks according to the broadcasted estimates.

Things learned:

1) I should've put up screen doors and screens on the windows like I've been meaning to do for a while. Lot better than trying to improvise mosquito netting and duct tape in the dark.

2) Use the mylar insulation bags that you can buy at the grocery store inside the cooler with ice on the inside and outside. The goodies keep a lot longer than just in the cooler by itself.

3) Boil rice and freeze it in ziplock baggies (that and a can of redbeans is a nice easy good ol' S Louisiana comfort meal) Nothing says home like red beans and rice!!

4) We put ice in ziplock baggies to pack the freezer. I'm going with partially filled water bottles next time. The baggies got a little messy.

5) Store everything that you put in the cooler in plastic baggies.

6) Duct tape the drain valve on the cooler closed. Murphy has a warped sense of humor.

7) I'm plywooding the gable vents on the house. The horizonal rain came in and down my wall and turned my kitchen into a swamp.

8) The big 2 gallon water jug- next time just gets ice in it and wrapped with refletix. I filled it with ice water this time and it quickly became just plain lukewarm water pretty quickly. It is also being used now for putting ice in our soft drinks (see # 10)

9) I'm getting one of those camp showers (black bag with a hose on it). I'm ok taking a cold misty rinse-off, but a warm shower would do a lot for the morale of my household and hence my survival.

10) Lots of comfort food!!! Lots of chips, chocolate......

11) Store extra gas to share (see #12).

12) Friends are a wonderful thing. No one gets by for very long with out friends. One of our friends came by with ice, and we gave him gas for his generator.

13) Good old fashioned hand tools (saws, etc). Can't go wrong going old-school. They work no matter what the weather...

14) I have even a lower tolerance for whining than I ever imagined. I was jumping down people's throats at work who even dared to start whining. (you got a job to do, suck it up and quit [censored]).