Friday, August 31, 2012

WE MADE IT!

Thanks to so many prayers  and great help, we have come through Hurricane Isaac. Parts of Mississippi and Louisiana did not fare as well. They are still faced with terrible flooding and other problems associated with hurricanes. There is the possibility of a dam breaking in Mississippi and a levee in Plaquemines Parish (we don't have counties here) was deliberately breached to help with flooding.

Here at the old homestead we never lost electricity--over 600,000 homes in Louisiana did. We do have a messy backyard: several trees went down along with a lot of tree trash. That's  such a small price to pay for the safety we had.

I ventured out to the grocery yesterday and there wasn't too much damage on this end of town. In other parts of Baton Rouge there was some pretty bad damage. The electricity is out at my church, so I don't know about services on Sunday. Going to make a run to Hobby Lobby today.

Thank you all again for your prayers and kind thoughts. We made it okay.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

It's almost noon and we still have electricity, although it's out in other parts of the city.It's terrible outside, but I'd rather this be happening during the day than at night.

This storm is moving slowly, which is not good. And it's shifted enough that Baton Rouge is now to the east of the storm. Never, ever, be to the east, so needless to say, it's going to get much worse.

He came ashore twice!!!, can you believe? Plaquemines Parish has had a bad hit. The levees held, but were overtopped. National Guard in in there now removing the dummies who didn't choose to evacuate.

If you have the Weather Channel where you live, you can keep up with us and see some of the damage. The winds are terrifying and we've already had one tree go down in the backyard.

I dread tonight.

NOT WAITING ANY MORE.

He's just down the street. It's 6:15 AM and we're up listening to the wind. We still have power, but it will go away soon. It's still a hurricane and is powerful.

Today is the anniversary of Katrina and now we add Isaac to the total.

The levees in Plaquemines Parish--where it came ashore THE FIRST TIME held but overflowed, so there has been pretty good destruction there.

Don't know how long we'll be without power, but it was several days after Gustav. Right now it's still dark outside, but I can really hear the wind.

Please pray for us.

Monday, August 27, 2012

BULL'S EYE

http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker/2012/isaac

This is what is known as a "bull's eye" and it's coming right at us. He should pay us a visit Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Right now he's a tropical storm---which is bad enough--but will be a hurricane when he hits us. Cat 1 or maybe Cat 2, both which are rough, but not nearly as bad as Katrina, which was a Cat 5.

There's a general joke that where Jim Cantore (The Weather Channel) is, is the storm.. He's in New Orleans right now, which is 60 miles from us. If Isaac comes directly up the Mississippi, we are in big trouble. And if he shifts and hits to the west of us, we are in deep caca. Never be on the eastern side of a hurricane. Anyway, we've survived Katrina, Rita, Ike and Gustav. This, hopefully, will be a piece of cake. A soggy one, but fairly easy to manage--if that's possible.

Go easy on us, Isaac and Jim (he is such a hunk that he can keep one's mind in another direction!).

Sunday, August 26, 2012

SITTING HERE JUST WAITING.......

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/

Here we go! Would you believe Isaac is supposed to land on the anniversary of Katrina?

We've made the trip for supplies--except for gasoline. The line was so long David decided to wait until tomorrow. May not be the smartest move.  All the gas may be gone by tomorrow.

The governor has declared a state of emergency-actually the governors of Alabama, Mississipp and Louisiana. State offices are closed. A lot of people in this area are in Tampa for the convention. Hope they make it home okay.

So now we just sit and wait. That may be the worse part. Maybe.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

ADDING TO THE SCARF COLLECTION

I do love my scarves! I buy them or knit them. Love all the pretty colors and love making them. Here's three I've  finished over the past couple of months:


Believe it or not, this is meant to be a necklace. It's knitted by a pattern I found on the Internet and is made of wool variegated yarn from Hobby Lobby.


I found this  on the Internet, also. It's made from an Italian yarn--don't remember the name!--but the pattern came with the yarn. It's one of those specialty ruffle yarns. Love working on them.  This caught my eye because the colors were so unusual. It was called "English Garden". Wouldn't you know!!


This is my favorite. I ordered the pattern from the Internet and it was a breeze to knit. Size 9 needles, Simply Soft by Caron. It can be worn any number of ways and the rose is a pin-knitted separately from the scarf. I love the soft pink color. It's the first time I've ever used provisional cast on. Very easy!

I'm still working on some other projects like these. It's so warm down here that sweaters are a bit useless. I'm going to try some fingerless mittens and some cute hat patterns I've found.

Busy fingers always!!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

GREAT VISIT AND GREAT RECIPE.....

My family from Houston were here last weekend and it was a great visit. The kids are growing so fast--Bradley is 15 today and will soon have his learner's permit. The girls are so cute (and smart, of course).

A highlight of the visit was getting to cook. I made a great casserole for lunch on Saturday along with Scott's Firehouse Cornbread, but the big hit was for breakfast on Saturday morning: Cinnamon French Toast Bake. It's here, along with photos, of course.

Everyone is sitting in the den--each with a gizmo. Ann is in the chair and John and Laura are on the love seat. You can't see Bradley. He's just to the right.

Linzie, of course, sitting in my lap. True lap rat.

The kids at breakfast: Grace, Bradley and Ann. And here is the recipe:

CINNAMON TOAST BAKE

1/4 C. butter, melted
2- 12.4 oz . cans Pillsbury Refrigerated Cinnamon Rolls with Icing
6 eggs
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. chopped pecans (I used walnuts. Like them better)
1 C. maple syrup

Garnish:
Icing from cinnamon rolls
powdered sugar
1/2 C maple syrup, if desired

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Pour melted butter into ungreased 13x9 glass baking dish.  Separate both cans of dough into 16 rolls: set icing aside.

Cut each roll into 8 pieces.  Place pieces over butter in baking dish

In medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in cream, cinnamon and vanilla until well blended. Gently pour over roll pieces. Sprinkle with nuts. Drizzle with 1 C. syrup.

Bake at 375 for 20-28 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove covers from icing. Microwave on 50% for 10-15 seconds or until drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. If desired, spoon syrup from dish over individual servings.  Serve with additional 1/2 C. syrup (heated a little).