As Hurricane Gustav heads toward the Louisiana and Mississippi gulf coasts, I hope that our honorable politicians, and especially the presidential candidates, keep themselves out of the effected region. Getting ready for a storm of this magnitude and responding after it hits, is serious business. The last thing that emergency workers need right now is for some opportunistic politician to to show up with their traveling security and media circus and disrupt their vital work.

Meet the pile. This is actually less than half of the wet and ruined stuff from a neighbors house. We took three truckloads of wet stuff that smelled like the creek to the dump yesterday from that house, and another 5 truckloads from another. “It’s only stuff” my friend said, “and my friends are showing up and driving my junk to the dump. What could be better?” Remember, it’s only stuff and most of us have way too much of that.

Today I’m doing a little excavation trying to solve the drainage problem that flooded my studio a little bit during the last storm. For the record, building with a slab on grade is a bad idea for a geo that is prone to flooding.

I’m updating my “hurricane checklist” to add one more important item. When a storm is coming and there is a chance that you may have to evacuate, it’s very important to have a designated “check-in” person somewhere outside the storm who can keep your friends and family updated about your health and welfare.

The American Red Cross has an on-line database up to help storm victims list themselves as safe and sound. Click here for the service, but be aware that there is a certificate problem with the Red Cross site and your browser may protest at making the connection.