I saw discussion on “Politics and Religion” concerning the hurricane and me. Since it involves neither politics nor religion (yet is way OT!) I thought it more appropriate to respond here.

Where we live in North Louisiana, we thought we were pretty much out of hurricane land. The previous thirty years we lived in southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Good living, but for hurricanes. So on retirement we moved into the Piney Woods if North Louisiana.

The eye passed over our farm. We had sustained hurricane force winds for several hours and gusts around eighty, according to news reports. It was indeed strong and sustained but I doubt it was hurricane force and certainly not 80 mph gusts. I have a lot of experience in hurricane damaged areas and this was not it.

However, we did lose corrugated steel sheets from a couple of outbuildings and a few trees, lots of large limbs and electrical power. Yesterday I cleared four large trees off our gravel road to provide highway access. My tractor was in the shop so I used my Tundra, cable and snatch block. Much easier with the tractor! And chainsaw, the only casualty.

I misjudged the stress on a downed tree and got the blade stuck. So I decided to pull on the trunk adjacent to the cut and open the cut. Done it enough times before to be pretty good at it. An unfortunate skill to have developed! Well, the tree did not skid or flex, it rolled into my chainsaw. Need a new cutting bar and chain.

The power company says we will get power in 7-10 days. I’m running electrical stuff off my Miller Bobcat 225. We live in a little shack while house building proceeds. I am soooo looking forward to moving in!