Well Hello There Gustav!

We snapped this on our way to church this evening. We had a small turn out, but I think people stayed home more to avoid the huge influx of people from LA. than the weather. Started raining just as we left the building to go to our car and has not stopped since. Looked like a nice little downpour was hitting just outside of town on the ride home. Other than that, not too much going on. Jack has decided that he is going to sleep with us tonight, apparently Mommy and Daddy need super hero protection against the storm (he requested his spiderman underoos tonight instead of pajamas). Yes, our son is a superhero and I will most likely be waking up to a bony behind clothed in spiderman undershorts in my face.

Live from Sumrall Mississippi!

It has begun. We have the outer ring of clouds from Gustav over the house. Still a few hours before we see the real stuff so I have enough time to head outside and prep the outside of the house. Trash cans in, hanging plants down, ferns in, dish TV removed ???(still debating on that one) I'd probably never re-establish the correct azimuth if I did. First order of business would be to correctly define and probably spell azimuth. Anywho.....a few things that I think will happen: 1) we will lose power, 2) did I mention that we will lose power, 3) we will have enough food and supplies to last a few days and we will work our way through them (I made sure to buy emergency cookies....uh for the kids of course) 4) if we have any winds that approximate three years ago we will not be back to wok within a week and a half. If this happens, I will be driving Aimee and the kids out of here. IF it is like las time we will end up spending much of our time digging people's homes out from under all the downed trees. I wish I had taken pictures. It was truly mind boggling just how many trees were down. A fella I work with had over 30 on his house and another 45 down in his yard......it was a sight. I pray we will not see anything near that level of damage. Well, I have to jump over to the National Hurricane Center for the update, then head outside to sure up the rest of the house. More later as we will blog until the cell phone towers go out.

What to do? What to do?

Well, we have been reading the information posted on the National Hurricane Center website like we have some training and know what we are doing. We are now on the outer edges of the "error" range of the predicted path. This simply means that we still do not know if we are going to be welcoming our dear ole "Uncle Gustav" in from the Caribbean on Tuesday. I have to admit that we have been enjoying the polarity of responses from people in and around H'burg. Wally world has made massive amounts of money the past few days on people who go in and start buying everything they need and even more things they don't. I have gone just to watch these people; intensely focused, brows furrowed, veigns popping as they frantically run around the store pushing one full cart and pulling another. Its great! Especially when you are trying to actually decide between cheerios or shredded wheat and are taking too much time "blocking" the isle. Let's all celebrate the great ole coastal tradition of hoarding. Like a bunch crazed chipmunks, cheeks bulging, feverishly stuffing the tree. Of course you have folks that are on the other end of the worry spectrum too. Hurriwha?? Where? aghhh! aint gunna hit us. Goin over to Texas. Regardless of reaction we all experiencing the gas price gouging. Twenty-five cents in about the same amount of hours. So cool to see people taking care of others.......of course by others I mean the greedy gremlins who own the stations. Fun Fun Fun....BTW Gustav is now a catergory 4 yipppeee!

The kid loves the Dentist!

Jack got to experience the dentist today! I am proud to report that he was a terrific patient! All twenty teeth were cleaned and examined by Dr. Lucas. We all had a good time. Jack strolled around the office showing off his freshly polished pearly whites. Maggie looked interested, but we decided to wait until she has a few more teeth!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Porch Time in August?

Enjoying the slow and steady rain out on the back porch. The storm passed to our north so we get to enjoy 70 Degrees in August....rare indeed.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Typical dinner

The two prior picture post are terrific examples of our typical evenings around ye ole dinner table. Sure going to miss this old block of a table, with its three broken and one borrowed porch chair. But, this is chasing a rabbit as tonight the realization is that the child on my right wants to discuss and debate the finer points of why shrimp does not taste good and how they taint the surrounding foodstuffs rendering the entire dish nonpalatable and inedible, and the child on stage left is just begining her preparation for the same conversation concerning sweet potatoes which will occur in what I am sure will be way too soon. All said, Aimee and I love Dinnertime!!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

SWEEEEEET EATS

SWEET POTATOES!!!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Jack at the dinner hour (and by hour I mean two hours)

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Mall Parking Lot downtime

This is called waiting on mommy. We have been shopping this afternoon for clothes for our photograph Tuesday. We are having our family photo taken for our church directory. Our goal was to find outfits to enhance our daughters new smile! That is correct Maggie has a tooth! She is growing too quickly. Well, Aimee is calling for ride! More later!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

blackberry blog #1

Found out that I can post information from my phone to the blog today! Woo hoo!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Welcome to the Future! Next year we are buying a VCR!

Two years ago we bought our first home. Lovely little place with all the amenities and comforts....well, except connections to the outside world. Apparently, one should check to see if the area they are moving to is of a substantial population density to support an internet provider. 18 Katherine Avenue in Sumrall Mississippi is not, shocking I know. I mean, what were we thinking? The house is not more than a mile from the backdoor of New York Jet QB Brett Favre. I assumed that would garauntee some level of service, but I suppose the Favre family (~5 per the 300 acres they live on) does not equate to a very dense population. Anywho. Our cell phone contract ended the other day and we decided to seek out a better option than AT&T (dead service whenever we entered the aforementioned slice of heaven on 18 Katherine). This was quite an undertaking....four days, way too much time on the phone and even more time at multiple dealer locations resulted (big big suprise) in a happy customer. Coming from a family that welcomed our first VCR into our home about the same time others were welcoming DVD players into theirs (Aimee assures me that her family actually acquired one while she was in middle school) I understand the idea of being behind the times...it is nearly second nature to me. So getting a phone that will tether fast internet is like cooler than color TV (we got that when I was about 5). With that, the past two years of friends blogging and family sending e-mails that we could only check into at work has finally come to an end (yippee). We are connected and updating the blog. Much fun to come! Aimee is pretty excited.
So, for our first at home post I present a very cool picture of Jack doing the heisman pose. This picture is quite awesome because it displays the kind heart and generosity of a dear family, Cliff and Debbie Summar. Cliff and I started working at USM together 4 years ago but since then, Cliff has gone back to Texas, a state not to mess with I here, to be home with Deb (and the dog). Cliff has pretty much been the sole supplier of sporting goods to Jack. The Summar's got Jack his first basketball set, soccer set, and now his very first Houston Texans Nerf Football. It showed up on the doorstep yesterday and may I say Mr. Jack was estatic. A big brown package containing a note and a football. We played, played a little more, and even postponed bedtime. Sometimes postponing bedtime is a great thing......thanks for making that happen Cliff.