Update

For what it's worth, the fate of those I knew in the path of Katrina:

Katrinna's Mandeville, La., apartment had some water damage, but from the storm, not flooding, and her cat was safely rescued and taken back to Greer a couple days after the storm. Poor Trinna, this wasn't her August. She also had surgery for endometriosis, during which they discovered she had cancer in her appendix. She turns 29 Wednesday. Thankfully, the cancer had not spread, but she still has to have more surgery to remove other bits of her person to prevent the cancer from coming back. Then comes a storm that will no doubt be mentioned every time she introduces herself for decades.

Aunt Debbie and Uncle Ken fared remarkably well. They had minimal damage to their Gulfport home and were ready to welcome their flooded-out brother's family with their two generators. They already have their land-line phone back, and the nearby Sam's reoppened on a limited basis a few days ago. I'm sure they're still quite hot, and it can't be pleasant bathing and doing laundry in a swimming pool, but not bad at all, considering. My cousin Lea is heading to our aunt's house in Houston to enroll in college there since her communinty college is probably not in the greatest shape.

And mom was peachy, though she had to fly to and drive from Tallahassee on her way back to Pensacola from the big 3rd birthday party last weekend. She was out of power for maybe 12 hours, not even enough time for all the air conditioning to wear off.