Lightning doesn't strike twice

Okay I know that's been disproven but you get the idea.  What are the chances that ONE specific day could be haunted with repeated tragedy?!?!?!

Exhibit A, B, & C

Katrina 2005

Isaac 2012

Ida 2021

All three of these Mother F**kers made landfall ON THE SAME DAY....IN THE SAME VICINITY!!!!!!!!

They were all different instities and sizes.  But they ALL brought death and destruction in their own way.  

Katrina - Massive b**ch that almost took up the whole gulf at one point.  Became a Cat 5 but weakened to a Cat 3 at landfall. Problem was it built up a Cat 5 storm surge that WIPED out Mississippi  Coast and destroyed NOLA and the surrounding parishes.  Thankfully my house was spared but we couldn't go home for about 2 weeks.  

Isaac - People discount Isaac because "it was only a Category 1".  But that @$$hole made TWO landfalls, and then just hovered battering the crap out of the area and pushing water into the unsuspecting River Parishes.  Leaving me homeless for 8 months!!!

Ida - Angry b**ch that Strengthened so fast we almost weren't prepared.  Smaller in diameter than the K word but made landfall as a Cat 4 and took her sweet f**king time moving along.  Destroying the bayou parishes and beating the crap out of the suburbs of NOLA. Leaving me homeless AGAIN for 6 months!!

I'm really tired of being "part of historical events"!!!!

Okay so I know I went MIA but its been a wild month. 

We are alive (yay!!!).  We are YET AGAIN displaced (Boooooo!).  Do not start with the whole "you live in hurricane ally what did you expect" bull$hit.  Yes I know we live where hurricanes happen.  I hate it but there are natural disasters everywhere and we usually can at least, prepare.  

But there was no time this time.  Ida went from a "oh look a 'storm'" to "Holy $hit RUN!"

No lie.  I've said it many times.  I get gut feelings.  I know most people do but I am not one to overreact.  Anyways, I was only ever fearful of one storm.  There was only ONE that scared the beejesus out of me and I cried to get my grandfather to leave his house, and that was Katrina.  All the others in between I was like "meh".  

But this one was different.  The path, the concern of the meteorologists, the WARM gulf.  And it was quick.  There was no TIME.  We heard about her on a Monday as a "little" something headed to the gulf and by Friday you could see the fear everytime the weather came on. 

I did what I always do.  I prepped my house, prepped my customers, and got ready to hunker down.  But as the days went on I started getting scared.  Like legit terrified.  By the time Friday came around my nerves were shot.  Work had me frazzled and well so did the path and strength.  Every advisory it ticked more towards us and got way stronger.  The hubs and I kept saying we were staying but as the day went on we both became even more concerned.  We said we will make the decision tomorrow to leave.  

Saturday morning was grim. They weren't saying get out but they were.  It was strong.  It was coming for us.  We were on the "bad side".  Words like total devastation and loss of life were said but we were still a little further east of the biggest concern.  But every advisory was more and more concerning.  Around 9AM, I booked a last minute hotel in Florida just in case.

We waited until 10PM advisory Saturday night.  We had already prepped the house and packed up some bags.  At 10PM they said "your window to leave is almost closed.   This storm is showing no mercy."  They were now predicting a strong Cat 4, 140 MPH winds and she moved more East.  They were saying she could very well be stronger than that.  I got scared...like started shaking scared.  My gut said we have to leave.

So we packed the car, loaded the animals, secured the house as best we could, and went to leave.

*tick tick tick tick* no no no no *tick tick tick tick*.  I am at my wits end.  The car wont start.  I don't generally panic but I was on the verge.  We need to leave.  Every fiber of my being said we have to leave NOW!  But it wont turn over!!! I was about to lose it. 

Thank God, my tiny old car was able to jump our bigger vehicle so we could GTFO.  We left her behind and started our journey.  We barely spoke because we were so scared.  What if we break down on I10 and become a statistic?!?!!?  We had to stop to pee and let the pups out but were scared to turn off the car.  He ran from 11:30PM until 7:30AM!!!  

No it didn't take us that long to get there but we couldn't check in at first.    So we drove up and down beach hwy until the front office opened.  Check in wasn't until 4PM but when I walked in and the lady about crumbled.  She told me to come back at 7:30 and she'd have a room for me.  I must have looked a fright!  At that point I had been awake for over 24 hours and it's not like I slept well Friday night...

We tried to nap after checking in but our nerves were shot and we were passed the point of exhaustion.  We watched helplessly as Ida approached the coastline. We had been up for 36 hours before we finally crashed.  

Sleep wasn't long because my phone started blowing up.  We had friends and family still in the area that didn't leave.  We eventually lost contact.  It was the most harrowing 24 hours until we found everyone safe and mostly unscathed. 

She battered SE Louisiana for something like 15 hours.  My area  had 155 MPH sustained winds for I don't know how long.  I'm not on the coast...she STAYED strong WAAAAAAY far inland.  I watched my camera until the power went out.  Before it did I watched something slam into my car.  Ida had just made landfall....I wasn't sure what I was going home to.

I'm still here...I think

So wow been MIA a bit.  Well work sucks...I have inherited a WHOLE NEW job...on top of my current job....with no extra pay...which is hard anyway because pandemic.  If any of you can figure out how to get extra hours in the day...I'm all ears.  

Oh and 2020 just keeps bringing the weird...f**ked up...insanity.  I don't even know what I missed.  But I live in hurricane central so that's been fun.  

Laura just steam rolled the Western side of LA.  I mean Katrina was bad.  Gustav was bad.  Isaac was bad.  This B**CH said hold my beer and just ...*GAH*.  

If I remember correctly she is the 1st storm to make landfall AS A STRONG CAT 4 in western LA.  A meteorologist was asked how you prepare for a cat 4 or cat 5...?  His response, "honestly after you get to a Cat 3 it doesn't matter.  It's going to be catastrophic.  There is going to be significant damage and loss of life.  Just...just get out."  And this B...it was so bad.  The level of destruction....I saw it first hand...about a week after landfall.  My heart just broke for everyone.  I was having some serious PTSD.  You would think after being through so many storms you get numb to the destruction...but you don't.  

I walked into a house and the smell of wet insulation/sheetrock/carpet slapped me in the face.  I was immediately thrown back 8 years...11 years....15 years....I was there again.  I was picking through a flooded house...I was helping move a tree off a house...I was watching my people sob because it was all gone.  Then I was back to myself...in the present seeing more of my people trying to cope with losing everything.  

So we did what we always do.  We banded together and we cpicked up the pieces.  Because while it sucks...ALOT.  What matters is they are alive and well.  The house(es) can be fixed.  

Now...where I am in East LA is maybe going to get...A TON OF F**KING rain from another biotch.  Sally seems to have a target on us.  She isn't strong (and hopefully it stays that way) but she's moving slow and has the potential to push alot of water inland, along with a possible 10-20 inches of rain.  

At the 10PM update, she shifted more east.  And honestly...I hope she keeps doing that (sorry MS/AL).

I don't wish this crap on anyone.  

And before you say "well if you know a hurricane is going to destroy your area...MOVE!"  That's stupid.  There are natural disaters...EVERYWHERE.  There are earthquakes in the West, tornado alley in the Mid West, Blizzards in the North..hurricanes and flooding in the south...and currently freaking WILD FIRES in the west.  

You can't escape mother nature...just make sure you can handle whatever one is where you live.  Hurricanes are predictable (mostly)....they suck but we can prepare for them.  But I will continue to b**tch because...well its 2020....can we get a break please!!?!!??

Dammit Barry, I had plans this weekend!!!!

Living in the South we learn to deal with hurricanes.  We prepare, we "hunker down" (GAH!), we drink, and we clean up.  

Barry (also known as a mother f**ker) took his sweet @$$ time making his way here...freaking everyone the hell out with all that "30 inches of rain" bull$hit, only to go poof basically.  

Don't get me wrong...some $hit went down and people lost some belongings and my heart goes out to them.  In my area it was 3 days BEFORE landfall.  I'm not even sure it was part of the "storm".  But for all the crazy being shown on National TV you woulda thought ALL of Louisiana was under water *rolling eyes*.  So for my sanity (and because we all drank a lot being in doors for almost 3 days)....here are my fav memes from the storm that never really was. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end know we are funny as hell down here.  We take $hit seriously but if we don't laugh we all go a lil cray cray.  *cheers*

That is a Graboid, Suckoid, Snakeoid...STUMPY!!!!

I've seen Tremors...everybody RUN!!!!

No wait...don't run...stay still...and get to high ground...

But seriously....WTF is that?!?  My friend sent me the twitter screen shot...said "LOL its a sand worm".

So I started Googling and found...

 of course IFLScience posted something.... LINK

Apparently more than likely "it's a fangtooth snake-eel, otherwise known as the "tusky" eel."  

F**king Harvey brought up some poor Alien from deep in the ocean....Can you imagine that swimming at you while you are swimming for your life...

This mother f**ker here!

What does this mean?!?!?





























Yo Harvey, get to going!

I mean look at that "forecast".  The spaghetti lines all have him making landfall near Corpus Christi, spinning around in circles, and then darting over Louisiana.

That B**ch is saying "weeeeee. F U Tejas!!!!" and then drowning LA.

No, Just No...JUST NO.

Also, last night "Tropical Depression Harvey might show some signs of development before landfall".  

Early this morning "Harvey is now a Tropical storm and could get stronger".

Later this morning "The waters off of Corpus Christi Texas are 87 degrees...its too warm. Harvey could develop quickly before landfall tomorrow."

Around 10:15 AM, "Harvey could be a Cat 3 before landfall".

MOTHER F**KER!  Yea he's going in, in TX but holy cannoli we are forecast to get a $hit ton of rain next week.  Also, I have loved ones in Texas...do not stall over Texas!!!

**UPDATE** I am so so so scared for my family and friends in Texas.  This thing is a Cat 4 and moving slow.  Please please please stay safe y'all!!!!

Louisiana - [loo-ee-zee-an-uh] noun, 1. a state in the S United States. 48,522 sq. mi. - 2. a place where you can go from BURN BAN to FLASH FLOOD in less than 24 hours

How does that happen?!?  Remember those Hurricane things I spoke about before?  Yea one of those (well what is left of one of those) was reeking havoc over our state (Texas too).   So a few days ago it was so dry that watering my plants daily was a necessity and yesterday I had to dump out the potted ones because they were over flowing with water.  Well I dumped them AFTER I located them.  

You see the tropical @$$hat that came through was not fun.  She (yes she...her name was Patricia) took the liberty of crossing from the Pacific side of Mexico, up into Texas and across most of Louisiana.  She had winds gusting like a low grade hurricane.  She dumped 4" of rain in my parish in less than 3 hours.  She woke me up at 5AM because the severe weather alerts were going off every 5 minutes.  She caused me to almost be late to a family thing because I was scared to leave my house after the tornado sirens went off.  She almost stranded me in another city because the way back home was FLOODED! 

I was not a happy camper.  I made it home, yes.  But once I was there I had to deal with spotty cable/internet, flickering lights, nervous animals, and damaging winds.  About 20 minutes AFTER I got home I realized my Halloween decor was probably MIA.  So here I am...in the dark...in the rain...in wind gusting 30+ MPH...looking for Styrofoam Headstones.  I found them *muahahaha* in the bushes and down the street...whoohoo.  Apparently Pat didn't want me to find them because in retaliation the winds blew so hard I literally slammed face first into my front door. 

B**CH!

Nursing my sore front side I decided to watch some Treehouse of Horror only to miss more than half of it thanks to interruptions for crazy psycho weather updates and an Amber Alert (he was found *whew*).  So as we were sent back to the stone-age (damn you mother nature!!!), the winds kicked up again and the rain abused  my house...I just sat in the dark, reading a book by lantern and hoping this stupidity would end soon.  The pups had to pee so I let them out and was immediately catapulted into an azalea and a rose bush.  Seriously this b**ch here wanted to hurt me!  WTF man?!!?! I woke up today (a bit sore and scratched) to find out we had more than 10 inches of rain in less than 24 hours.  Most of my plants were on the other side of the yard and completely tattered...did we have f**king tornado?!?!? Oh and one entrance to my hood was flooded. 

So as I've mentioned before I HATE HURRICANES....even if they aren't hurricanes when they get to us...they still big donkey *expletive*!

10 years ago, still seems like yesterday - PART 4

This is the last "piece" about this. . . at least from me.

After Rita things slowly (mind melting slow) started to move forward.  Eventually we were allowed in Orleans parish to assess the damage to the grandparents home.  I took a few days off work (I'd found a job by this point).  It was forceful reminder of everything that had happened.  I practically grew up in their home, spending most of my summers there while my mom worked.  It was obvious when we pulled up that it was a total loss.  While the building was still standing there was a stillness to it that spoke volumes.  That with the brightly painted 'X' with numbers stood as ugly reminder of how many lives (human and pets) were lost.  The door was barricaded shut by the fridge which had fallen over as it floated around the kitchen.  The back storm door was locked from the inside so you couldn't open it to get to the back door.

Being pint sized I was able to slip through the front door between the fridge and the door.  I had to climb over so much...stuff...to get through the house and to the back door.  Of course the lock was sticking (water will do that) so it took me a while to finagle it open.  Every second I stood there in the dark flooded house my heartbeat picked up.  I felt like I wasn't alone although I knew I was.  My fear was running high.  It was at least 100 degrees and humid inside, obviously with no breeze.  Having that stupid but necessary mask on wasn't helping.  I ended up having to break the storm door by kicking it repeatedly (grandma wasn't happy but it was the only way).  Once inside, we got most of the windows open and I started the horrible task of documenting this tragedy in pictures. 

That 1st day we didn't do much except walk around in a daze, trying to wrap our brains around what had happened.  We KNEW what happened but to be standing there in the middle of it, seeing the water line from the not quite 8 feet of water, seeing all their material possessions, memories, and collections destroyed in one fateful moment as the waters came barging in.  There were many trips back to their former home.  Some I was there for, others I was not.  Each time we tried to salvage what we could and trash what we couldn't.  You would think as the days went on, it got easier...but it didn't.  If anything it got so much harder.  Because the more you dug around, the more mangled memories you found.  Good and bad, happy and sad...all of them broken by raging waters. 

At one point I was mucking about in their bedroom, I was the only one who could fit through the tiny opening...I had to clear debris (I am pint sized, NOT EASY) to finally wedge the door open enough.  I found my mom and dad's wedding album.  It was on the top shelf in a closet.  It was okay!  I mean a little damp but only at the bottom.  Most of the pictures were saved.  Granted my parents are divorced but this is still part of history, part of MY history and it gave us a little glimmer of hope that not everything was lost.  I also managed to shimmy my way into the attic to see what I could salvage.  It was very bright and had fresh air, thanks to the two ginormous holes ripped through the roof.  This time my spidey senses were spot on.  I was NOT alone.  My hidden companion hissed and growled and had glowing eyes.  Could of been a cat, could of been a racoon...I didn't stick around long enough to find out. 

It took many, many hours to go through the entire house.  This is 50+ years of stuff.  I ended up with a few items my grandma couldn't take but didn't want to toss or put in storage.  They were items that held a special place in my memories.  Nothing of monetary value but invaluable to me.

Once done with their house I was called into action again by the other side of my family.  My paternal grandma's house was also damaged and uninhabitable.  While it wasn't flood waters for her, the gaping holes in the roof allowed the driving rain to...well rain inside.  It caused insane amounts of damage.  I helped clear out her stuff as well.  Once it was all said and done I said "If I never step foot in a flooded house again, it will be too soon."  Oh how those words would come back and haunt me 7 years later on the anniversary of this catastrophic storm. 

10 years ago, still seems like yesterday - PART 3

More than a week but not quite two went by and we were still without power in Baton Rouge where we were staying.  We'd located most of our family and friends but we still weren't allowed to go home. . .to see how much we lost.  The BR looked like a war zone.  Trees were down everywhere, roads were blocked and low lying areas were flooded.  When we were allowed to, we stood in lines to get food, to get water, to get ice, to get necessities, to get answers.  We got the first four eventually but answers were few and far between. 

We finally got word that our parish was reopening.  There was still no electricity but we could go home.  We much preferred being there with no lights rather than crowding my cousin's house with the rest of the fam and no lights.  So we packed up our belongings, our animals & my mom and headed home. 

Debris littered the streets and highways but getting home took much less time than getting out.  As we turned down our street we were greeted with some neighbors who had managed to make it back.  We saw our house, it was fine.  *whew*.  No water and limited wind damage.  A few downed trees and our fence was completely gone, but none hit the house...how, I have no idea but we considered ourselves extremely lucky!  You could see the water line in the front lawn.  Clearly the water had risen significantly if it got that high by us.  Our neighborhood had NEVER flooded in a storm, not even Andrew (1995) which flooded other parts of our town (as told by the older neighbors). 

Clean up and settling back in was unpleasant but at least we had a home still.  Plus the electricity didn't stay off for long after we got back.  It was another week or so (I think) before my mom was allowed back into her parish (not Orleans).  They wouldn't let anyone in UNLESS they had an address in the parish.  Thankfully I hadn't changed mine on my license yet so I was allowed to accompany her and my boyfriend worked for the state so his badge got him in as well.   

Her house was still there, yay!  No flooding, yay! Giant tree resting on the roof, boo!  The drive to her house looked even sketchier than the drive to ours.  Trees were down...all lying in the SAME direction.  Clearly straight line winds, immensely strong winds, did this.  We are talking about 100 year oaks and other MASSIVE trees, completely UPROOTED.  I monkey-ied my way up the fallen tree and onto her roof to get a better look.  It was absolutely sobering.  As far as you could see in any direction there was complete destruction.  We took lots of pictures and opened the windows to air things out.  She had quite a bit of water inside because of the holes punched in the roof thanks to the tree.  We deemed her house unlivable for now, so we got a few more necessities for her, locked it down and headed back to our house. 

It took weeks to get her insurance crap 1/2 way straight so she stayed with us.  Before they could even think about scheduling her house to be fixed we had ANOTHER hurricane.  Rita came barreling in.  She hit much more west of us (we did NOT evacuate) but she was a b**ch as well.  More trees came down by us (clearly weakened by the 1st storm) and the temporary levees breached again.  Once again the city was inundated with water. 

10 years ago, still seems like yesterday - PART 2

FOUR hours later we made it to Baton Rouge.  Normally that drive takes about 45 min - 1 hour from where I live.  We took back highways and little know routes, steering clear of Airline Hwy and I-10.  My mom and grandma took about 6 hours and my uncle and grandfather (who waited until the last freaking second to leave) took even longer.  If I remember correctly, they waited too long to initiate "contra flow", the highway systems were overwhelmed.  But they had to get people off the roads before the storm hit.  Honestly it was tad insane.  Cell phones were already messing up because everyone and their momma (literally) was on the phone trying to see where everyone was.  7 people, 6 dogs, 2 snakes, some feeder mice, 1 cat and 1 bird in a 1 bedroom house was a little crowded BUT it was safe...right?

It didn't seem like very much time had passed before the tell tale signs of a super storm started to make themselves known.  The animals were a wreck!  The dogs could not sit still.  My cat chewed a hole in the underside of my cousin's box spring to hide in it.  And to be truthful we were all on edge as well. The TV was on a 24/7 loop of local news recapping what we all already knew, Katrina could easily wipe NOLA and the Mississippi Gulf Coast off the map.  Eventually the power went out and we were left to sit there listening to WWL News Radio by candle/lantern light as the wind howled outside.  It was hot as Hades in the house...it was August people...so we chanced opening the front door (it had a latched screen door) and some windows.  We attempted to sleep at some point...an unspoken agreement to leave the radio on to hear any updates they might have.  I remember laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, trying to comfort my trembling dogs.  Between the screaming wind and driving rain, it sounded like someone was snapping twigs outside, mixed with something that sounded like a giant taking a step (all I needed was to hear Fe Fi Fo Fum).  We knew what was happening...the winds were so strong tree limbs were breaking and the ancient oaks all around us were falling on their sides.  No one said it, but we were all thinking it.  We were 60+ miles inland from NOLA. . .if it's this bad here. . .there might be nothing left to go home to.  As Katrina moved further inland we all sat around the radio quiet and listening.  That is when they said something I will NEVER forget.  The newscaster said in a broken voice "The levees have failed, the City of New Orleans is under water".  The grandparents were very very quiet.  They lived in the City not a suburb like the rest of us.  The reports were still patchy but it was clear that it was unbelievably bad.  And while no one had said it on the radio we all knew they were dancing around the subject of loss of life. . . how many people stayed. . .how many people didn't make it. 

Up until now we hadn't heard much about any place else other than Louisiana.  The first report we heard about Mississippi just about broke me.  Yes my city was flooded but they basically said NOTHING was left of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Where houses and businesses once stood, now there were only the foundations and scattered debris giving you a glimpse of the lives that were lived there.  The casinos were pretty much gone.  "It looked like a bomb went off."   They couldn't tell us  how much was left anywhere. . .what we might go home to. . .or if there was a home still there.  They were calling us all refugees.  Life along the gulf coast was forever changed. . .again.

10 years ago, still seems like yesterday - PART 1

This is long but interesting...at least I think it is.

So many things have changed in 10 years.  So many things haven't.  But the things that have changed are mostly for the good, I think.  We learned so much that day.  We learned that mother nature is a force to be reckoned with. That she is 100% capable of wiping us out without a second thought.  I am sure there will be a zillion posts about this anniversary and although I hate being a "follower" I will jump on the bandwagon, just this once. I never want to relive that day but I think it is important to remember everything that happened that lead us to this point.  I am not good with exact time frames but I can give you a round about time of the happenings in my world. 

I was 24, living with my long term boyfriend, in a house we bought earlier that year in a suburb of a suburb of a suburb of New Orleans (a bit rural but still a city, we have a Walmart, HELLO!).  I had just been laid off from my job and was in the midst of finding somewhere else to work while finishing my Master's Degree.  To say my life was upside down is a bit of an understatement.  The week of Katrina I had 3 interviews. One was VERY promising, he basically told me I had the job when I was leaving.  The entire week and a bit prior I'd been paying little attention to the news and happenings in the world but I made sure to know about the weather.  When you are from this area, you watch the weather during hurricane season.  I kept hearing about this storm and its potential development, etc etc etc.  The City of New Orleans had cried wolf (evacuate) before (Georges & Ivan come to mind) and the storm went somewhere else, so while I took the caution seriously, I wasn't very concerned.  When they said LEAVE the last two times, we left, but my gut said it was silly to do so and I was more annoyed than anything (especially sitting in traffic for ELEVEN hours just to get to Lafayette).  This storm was different and I told my boyfriend that.  I had a VERY bad feeling...I was actually scared.  I know people say in hindsight you say this but I swear, before anything happened...I just had the worst feeling in my gut.  As the days ticked down, I did what I always do, I prepared for a storm.  I bought water, canned food, batteries, candles, lanterns, dog/cat supplies, money, Rxs, etc.  We took the boards out of storage and put them in the front of the shed in case we needed to board the windows.  We went through the motions as we've all done many, many times before. 

I woke up a couple days before (I think) and thought I was hallucinating.  This had to be a bad dream.  This B**ch was basically a Cat 4, expected to get to a Cat 5 and pointed straight for Louisiana/Mississippi.  It took up almost the entire gulf.  I sat there gaping at the TV.  My boyfriend's work called him in to do emergency prep while I started prepping the house.  Thankfully at that time he mainly worked from home so it wasn't too bad.  I honestly don't remember when it happened exactly (could have been the same day, could have been the next...its all a blur) but I remember every television in my house going off and announcing an Emergency Statement.  Our parish was under a Mandatory Evacuation (1st time in History for this parish).   They were expecting a storm surge taller than my house, winds gusting well over 150 mph and driving rains...she was called a "doomsday storm" more than once.  The weather forecasters were so somber...they KNEW this was going to be extremely bad.   Before long there were police patrols in the streets repeating over and over, "Get out...we will not be able to help you if you stay."  We packed what we could, put the important stuff in the attic and prepared to go...north. 

I called my mom to make sure she was leaving.  She actually fought with me about having no where to go and said my grandparents were staying as well.  To say I lost my $hit is an understatement.  But none of them would budge.  All I kept hearing was "we stayed for Betsy and Camille, this will be fine." Finally my younger cousin called me FREAKING out.  She lived more north where she was in school, granted not REALLY north...not even Central LA but still North of us.  She told us to go to her place.  It was small but we were welcome.  Together we convinced (barely convinced) our family to heed the warning and get the F out!  I am not ashamed to say I used tears to get our Patriarch to listen.  By this point the wind had begun to blow a bit.  She was still well offshore but she was so big...it is the most disturbing feeling...you have the sun blazing and a nice breeze on a seemingly BEAUTIFUL summer day but there is nothing but the sound of people packing up their lives.  No birds, no animals, no bugs really...nature had left.  My two dogs were pacing paths in the grass and my cat was no where to be found, they were clearly nervous.  After boarding up the windows on our new home (can I tell you how creepy it is to be inside a boarded house!), we packed up what we could in our cars (including our pets) and headed to our state capitol. 

Stop tempting fate dammit! The universe is listening and she is a b**ch!

You know how they say "never say never" or don't say "what could go wrong".  It's like "noooooooo! don't put that thought into the universe!!!" Because we all know that means the universe is gonna be an @$$hole just to prove you wrong.

Well the NWS or NHC whichever one it was sure did f**k this one up!  About 1 - 1 1/2 weeks ago they released a statement saying that "it was going to be an inactive hurricane season".  The news story popped up on my phone and I may have gone a bit batty for a minute.  But think about it...

1. Late August 1992 Hurricane Andrew was an @$$hole from Florida to Louisiana.  
2. Mid September 1998 Hurricane Georges caused the first mass exodus out of the NOLA area (at least that I remember).  That is one evacuation I will NEVER forget!  Dude ELEVEN hours to get to Lafayette...Lafayette is normally a 3 hour trip!!!!!!!!!
3. Mid September 2004 Hurricane Ivan caused the second mass exodus out of the NOLA area...it missed us and DESTROYED Alabama and Florida.  He was also a f**k nut
4.  August 29, 2005 Hurricane f**king Katrina did what everyone was fearing the last two major storms would do to the NOLA area & MS Gulf Coast.
5.  September 24, 2005 Hurricane Rita (Katrina's "baby" sister) decided she wanted to mess with the gulf coast also and ripped apart East Texas and West Louisiana AND re-broke the temp levees in NOLA.
6. September 1, 2008 Hurricane Gustav proved that even a Cat 2 can put us back in the stones ages.  We had no electricity, phones sucked and everyone and their Momma wanted us to help them.
7. September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike wanted to be a bad@$$ also and f**ked up East Texas.
8. August 28, 2012 (almost 7 f**king years to the day of Katrina's bull$hit) Hurricane Issac decided he wanted to show everyone that even a barely Cat 1 can be a d**k.  He stalled over South Louisiana and kinda moved a bit and on the anniversary of that b**ch storm he made my life a living hell!

Do you see why I am pissed off?!!?!?  Yes there were others but these directly affected me so that's why they are the ones I listed.  Who does that?!?  It is f**king August...we are in PEAK hurricane season!!!!!  Most of the worst storms that have hit, have hit late August - Mid September (see above).  Why would you put that thought into the Universe?!!??

Sure enough some deity with a sense of humor decided to give us all a scare.  Because almost immediately after that jack@$$ pronouncement we got an alert saying a "Tropical Wave" in the Atlantic had a 50% chance of development.  Everyday it got worse.  60% chance, 80% chance...we are watching this one closely...surprise b**ches meet TS Danny, No wait Hurricane Danny and today "Hey y'all Hurricane Danny is a Cat 2".  Yes he is still pretty far out and small and they anticipate "weakening" but there is a chance he could go straight into the effing Gulf and then who knows what, actually I know what...*people freaking the f**k out* that's what.

I just don't understand why they said anything.  I'm not usually superstitious but come on!  We can see that it's been a "slow" season but no one felt the need to say it out loud!

UPDATE - So apparently Mr. Danny is a Cat 3...yay...