Rita Blows into the South

My LORD! It is raining cats and dogs. As the outer bands of Rita spurn tornados and lots of rain, reports have made it that the levees in New Orleans are breeched again. Here in Baton Rouge it is wet, very wet and windy. This is Hurricane weather. Breezy with blowing rain, on and off.

Satellite tv services are now being interrupted momentarily. I realize that cable may be interrupted at some point. Hopefully we will not lose electricity this time. Our phone services (land and cellular) have not been right or good since Katrina. Anyone trying to call into this region has run into busy circuits when calling in. With new evacuees from Texas and the Lake Charles region adding to our New Orleans evacuees, Baton Rouge may be a hard place to reach communications-wise.

11:23 UPDATE

I'm tired but it appears that my high schooler is having a co-ed party upstairs tonight. The winds are very strong now and the lights are flickering off and on. We will be lucky if we keep our electricity, very lucky. Just in case we don't, I have the generator hooked up with a light, small tv and fans attached. I have my flashlight and cell phone by my side. Three hours from now Rita will make landfall. Can I stay up? I am washing/drying clothes "just in case", running dishes through the dishwasher "just in case" and baking some cupcakes for the kids.

The rain is blowing so hard that it was coming in under my door jam in my artroom! It isn't flooding, just blowing rain. Ah, and it is hot and humid outside. Well, I wanted to add these notes.