The Downtown Arcade 3 - Hurricane edition
As I write it's 11 a.m. Sunday here in Natchitoches, and we're watching the skies. We're also watching the Weather Channel as Hurricane Ida hits the southeast part of the state, and we're hoping our fellow Louisianans in New Orleans, Houma, Baton Rouge and everywhere else stay safe and dry.
So far looks like the storm will pass well east of here. Hope so. E and I learned lessons last year from Hurricane Laura, though, and from the winter storms earlier this year. That's why, just in case, we bought a gasoline generator.
Being without power is an adventure at first. But after two sustained outages in six months we'd had enough adventure. Now, if the worst happens, we'll be able to grind coffee beans the right way. The way I devised after Laura, which involved a hammer, isn't the right way.
A few months ago we started looking into a permanent generator solution, the kind that connects to utility gas and turns on automatically when the electricity goes out. We even had a guy come out to the house for a quote. But it turns out these devices are back-ordered until forever, so we put those plans on hold.
More recently, like maybe week before last, we talked about getting a gasoline generator as a temporary solution. We agreed we should do some comparison shopping, some research. Do our due diligence and figure out just the right gasoline generator for us. Then, on Thursday, we heard about this storm that was making a beeline for Louisiana. That's when we said: WE'RE GOING TO WALMART RIGHT NOW TO GET A GENERATOR.
Fortunately there was one left. As we wheeled it around the store everyone we passed did a doubletake, gazed at it longingly. Louisianans know. We bought gas cans and I figured out where in town to buy ethanol-free gas. On Friday we put everything together and fired up our newest major purchase for a test. So far so good, not counting the gas I spilled on my shoe. We tried everything and my shoe still smells like gas.
I think we have everything else we need. As Ida makes its way through Louisiana and beyond, we'll be wishing good luck and good health to everyone. Please do the same.