I went out this afternoon for a variety of reasons, triggered by an empty deodorant container. Okay, I could have dug in my travel bag, but that would be only temporary.

Anyway, as I drove down the road that floods when the bayou is backed up by storm surge I noted that, so far, it was dry.

I stopped at PJ's and ran into my lawyer friend. She asked if the road was wet yet, and I gave her my report.

After a relatively long period of conversation she got a phone call--her mother saying that the road in front of their house was covered. (They live in a subdivision near the bayou.)

When I finally headed for home I found the road that floods quite wet. One house (visible from the road) had water in its backyard to within about five feet from the back of the house. And the entrance to the subdivision my friend lives in had big signs warning of flooded streets.

The other evening the news had a report about dead nutria. Nutria are large (raccoon size) rodents with bright orange, very long incisors. They are nasty and play havoc with embankments on drainage canals. Their saving grace is a fantastic fur coat. (I'm not sure about the edibility factor.)

However, LOTS of dead nutria have been washing up from swamps and wetlands where they drowned, creating a royal smelly and unhealthy mess.

Just one more consequence of global warming.

Based on the current projected track of Ike, it will probably be several days before good weather. Once ashore it's predicted to curve sharply to the east as it heads inland. Northern Louisiana will be getting the rains and wind soon.

I wonder what the storm deities have in store for us next.