We’ve been lucky so far, at least here in the city. It’s been raining on and off, but nothing particularly heavy. The wind has also kicked up quite a bit, but electric power is holding and I managed to get in a few hours of on-and-off sleep. It hasn’t helped that we’ve placed our inflatable bed directly underneath a spotlight that shines down on the coffee/tea station. The only way to turn the light off is to turn EVERYTHING off or to climb a ladder and unscrew the lightbulb. But it’s 12 feet up, the ladder is out in the rain, etc etc. As it is, I feel like I’m sleeping on a stage. LOOK! HE’S SLEEPING.

Looking at the radar, we’ve been in a gap between rain bands. We’re getting a good look outsideat the park across the street, where the trees are blowing around but nothing serious. Moisture-wise, I’ve been in more rain walking across a grocery store parking lot. I’d guesstimate sustained winds at only minimal tropical storm force, but we’re still several hours from landfall at about Morgan City, looks like. This would put New Orleans on the edge of or just outside the hurricane-force winds. But they’re catching it pretty good down at Grand Isle and Venice. Rain here will get a lot heavier shortly.

Okay, The TV is now saying gusts of 47 at the airport. They’re estimating we’ll remain below hurricane force here in town, but hurricane force by early afternoon in Houma, Cocodrie and in those areas. We have friends there, so they’ll have to remain hunkered for awhile. The graphic shows a Monopoly-type house in a pool of water, as if a child had tumped over a glass, ruining the game. The anchors are listening to the weather person, trying not to look mystified as she talks about the likelihood of various “rain events” before they return to interrupting the minor local official they’re interviewing.

Lucy Bustamante is nine kinds of hot. Lee Zurik appears to have something caught in his aggressive eyebrows. Ah. There we go. He brushed it away.

Things appear to be much easier in Plaquemines and St. Buhnawd so far. They haven’t yet said anything about conditions in Lafourche and Terrebonne. But it’ll be a few hours before any hell breaks loose, if it actually does. At least it’ll be in broad daylight. Here in New Orleans, it appears another major rain band just passed the other side of the river.

At least for now, it looks like we’ll be able to open back up tomorrow. If we continue like this, I don’t know if we’ll lose power Uptown for very long. But we’ll see, since we’ve got another 12 hours or so to go.