Katrina’s Coming

This morning, as Katrina creeps ashore just east of New Orleans, Jackson is muggy, moist, and gray.

On our early walk, Chelsea and I meet Matt, an older gentleman, and Buster, his Alaskan husky. Matt’s from Slidell; he’s staying in our condo community with friends who invited him up. He smooths his thin white moustache while looking up at the swirling clouds. "Don’t know what’ll happen," he says. "Just no idea."

Yesterday, Wal-Mart was a madhouse. Fueled by memories of what Camille did to the Jackson area, locals raced up and down the aisles, packing carts with chainsaws, coolers, and bottled water. At Target, we found batteries … but small radios were in short supply. Our neighbor, Becky, cooked a ham and a turkey "just in case we won’t be cooking for awhile." She also sent her son — a refugee from New Orleans — to the pool area to make sure the gas grills were working.

We’re not expecting much to happen until late this afternoon, when Jackson will supposedly see hurricane force winds and up to ten inches of rain. For now, we watch the Weather Channel and the non-stop coverage from WAPT … and wait.