Saturday, July 30, 2005

Southern Legislator Parade

Well I tried to win the raffle for the spots to parade in both of my Mardi Gras organizations but no luck. However, being the true Mardi Gras person I am there was no way a parade was going to roll with me not being a part of it when I could be. Everyone said they were so sorry that I didn't have a spot but I told them the parade is not here yet I WILL find a way. Last night around 10pm I finally called the right person and got a spot. I rode with the Order of Angels. They are a new group that began in 2002. The only person I knew was the guy that told me that I could ride. I was a little worried that some of the members would not want me there but I found out that they were wonderful people and I had a great time parading with them. If I could afford another organization I would join in a minute.

Anyway, I had two client meetings today. I drove 30 minutes to Grandbay this morning for the first meeting then back downtown to load my float then back to Theodore for the second meeting another 20 minutes away and then back downtown to get dressed in my costume to head to the parade.

I got downtown to the auditorium around 5 and met up with a bunch of the girls from one of my organizations. We tailgated out of the back of one of the girls SUV and drank champage and beer. We were told that the parade was going to roll 15 minutes early so we headed to the floats only for the parade to roll 15 minutes late. The bands would not get out of the buses until the rain stopped. No big deal. Everyone got off their floats and we had basically a street party for about 30 minutes.

Finally the parade rolled and there was a good crowd that turned out despite the weather. The people with the convention seemed to be really enjoying the show.

I did take a couple of pictures but because I was on the float I could not get a lot. My dad performed a wedding (he is a minister) and then headed down for the parade and he took a lot of pictues. He is going to email them to me so I will post them later.

Anyway, it was a great evening.


This is a bunch of people having fun before the parade.


A view from the top of the float I was on as the parade started to roll.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Southern Legislator Parade

Well I tried to win the raffle for the spots to parade in both of my Mardi Gras organizations but no luck. However, being the true Mardi Gras person I am there was no way a parade was going to roll with me not being a part of it when I could be. Everyone said they were so sorry that I didn't have a spot but I told them the parade is not here yet I WILL find a way. Last night around 10pm I finally called the right person and got a spot. I rode with the Order of Angels. They are a new group that began in 2002. The only person I knew was the guy that told me that I could ride. I was a little worried that some of the members would not want me there but I found out that they were wonderful people and I had a great time parading with them. If I could afford another organization I would join in a minute.

Anyway, I had two client meetings today. I drove 30 minutes to Grandbay this morning for the first meeting then back downtown to load my float then back to Theodore for the second meeting another 20 minutes away and then back downtown to get dressed in my costume to head to the parade.

I got downtown to the auditorium around 5 and met up with a bunch of the girls from one of my organizations. We tailgated out of the back of one of the girls SUV and drank champage and beer. We were told that the parade was going to roll 15 minutes early so we headed to the floats only for the parade to roll 15 minutes late. The bands would not get out of the buses until the rain stopped. No big deal. Everyone got off their floats and we had basically a street party for about 30 minutes.

Finally the parade rolled and there was a good crowd that turned out despite the weather. The people with the convention seemed to be really enjoying the show.

I did take a couple of pictures but because I was on the float I could not get a lot. My dad performed a wedding (he is a minister) and then headed down for the parade and he took a lot of pictues. He is going to email them to me so I will post them later.

Anyway, it was a great evening.


This is a bunch of people having fun before the parade.


A view from the top of the float I was on as the parade started to roll.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Hurricane Dennis Part III

On Saturday the storm was down to a category 2 but we knew it would stregthen since it was over the warm Gulf of Mexico waters. We boarded up the house except for the windows with the a/c units. Luke went downtown to help board up his boss' resturant and house and secure the clubs. After Gavin and I did all the preparations we could I settled down on the couch to watch the Hurricane coverage. I knew we would have to get up early because they were saying we would start feeling the effects around 7am so I went to bed about 10pm.





At around 12:30am Luke came in and woke me up to tell me it had been upgraded to a category 4 storm.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Hurricane Dennis Part II

OMG the latest update has this storm at almost a Category 5!! We are still going to stay in Mobile but I am not looking forward to it. I have to go fill up my car with gas and buy beer and we will be all set. We will board up the house tomorrow and pray. It is at 150mph winds and 938 mb pressure and it is still not in the Gulf of Mexico. That means that once it hits those warm Gulf waters it will get even stronger.

CATEGORY 4
Winds: 131 to 155 mph

Damage: Extreme; almost total destruction of doors, windows. Some wall and roof failure. Major damage to lower floors of oceanfront buildings. Evacuations up to 6 miles inland. Pressure 27.17 to 27.90 inches accompanied by a storm surge of 13 to 18 feet.. Hurricanes Andrew, Hugo, and Hazel were Category 4 storms.



Thursday, July 07, 2005

Hurricane Dennis Part 1

Here we go again. Cindy was no big deal but this one is scary. It is already a category 2 and will be at least a 3 when it makes it here. Mobile is once again right in the middle of the cone so we are already making preparations. Max, Amy email me and I will send you my phone number. I know last time several people were trying to get in touch with me and if we get a direct hit then the power could be out for up to two weeks so no internet access. I will be able to IM on my phone a little but it costs extra so I try not to use the service too much. I have also got to research but there is a way that I can post on my blog from my phone. I can't post pics of course but could at least maybe do a play by play and post pics later. I will look into that over the next couple of days. Well at least this time we have all the wood to board up our house unlike last time we spent $600 buying wood. When we took the boards off the windows after Hurricane Ivan we marked each one so that we would know which window it was for. Luke cut each board to fit so this time all we have to do is pull out the wood and screw it to the house. I will go to the store tomorrow for supplies like water, candles, batteries, oh and of course beer. On Saturday if it looks like we are going to get clobbered then we will start boarding up and get ready to camp out in the hall on Sunday.