checking in...

I drove back to Hattiesburg yesterday, and was relieved to find my apartment unscathed. The power was on, so everything that was ruined in the fridge had a chance to refreeze, which means the smell was much less powerful that I expected.

I didn't get into town early enough to get something to eat, though,(curfew starts at dusk) so I had trailmix and a handful of Baked Lays and a spoonful of peanut butter for dinner. I made it to Wal-Mart this morning, though, and managed to get milk and other stuff. There are plenty of dry goods, and perishable stuff is slowly being restocked. There is almost no produce, just some apples and oranges that I think may have been there before the storm and, strangely, three crates of zucchini.

Besides the piles of debris that line the roads, the other thing you really notice in Hattiesburg is the smell. Pine trees are scattered like toothpicks, and the smell they give off is amazingly powerful. The whole city smells like a Christmas tree farm.