Greetings everybody!

I must tell you about MOTHER NATURE! You might not see the link between weather and my job as a mascot but it’s an important element for me as I travel a lot for my job and weather plays an important role in my day-to-day life.

Many people in Canada dream of living south or, at least, spend the winters there. It was the same for me and my work allowed me to do so. I don’t live in Florida but I am in Mississippi. It isn’t so bad. It’s nice and warm and we are close from Alabama (Mobile), Florida (Panama or Destin) and Louisiana (New Orleans).

Last year, in 1998, the Mississippi ECHL hockey team asked me to spend the winter down there. It was fine for me since my wife already lives there. It was new for me, though, to live there full time. The first thing that people told me was "Welcome to Mississippi, Pierre. Get ready because this is hurricane season." Having lived up north where we are used to deal with different things (snowstorms, ice-storms, etc), it didn’t scare me much when they told me that. Being lucky, hurricane GEORGES was on its way in October. I was watching the Weather channel on tv and they were saying that the hurricane could go toward the Gulf of Mexico or curve towards Florida. For a whole week, we kept hearing about the hurricane and I couldn’t really imagine the consequence and damages that it could do. Three days before it hit, it was the emergency and evacuation plan! Everybody was leaving and this little Quebecer was staying. I was living in a 150-apartment complex and the day before hurricane George’s arrival, it was nice and warm outside. I was playing football on the beach and took some pictures. On the evening, I noticed that only about 5% of the people were still there in the apartment complex. Everybody else had left.

They were telling people to stock up on water, flashlights, radios and anything the might be needed during the power failure. Shelters were being offered and people were barricading their windows. Being so brave and afraid of nothing, I was telling myself that it was no big deal and that I had seen worse in my life. So, I got up on the Sunday morning and things were starting to turn bad. The sky was gray and turning black. It was rainy and windy. Being on the second floor of the building, I could see everything by the window. During the day, it wasn’t too scary as I could see what was happening. The wind and rain were increasing and windows were starting to shake. I was able to also follow what was going on on tv. I was in Biloxi and the eye of the hurricane was coming right here. I wasn’t going to miss a thing! When the night came, I ate a good meal before the power went off at about 10pm. The fun was starting. I was in the middle of the action with winds of 100 MPH, heavy rains and over 2 feet of rain on the ground. Everything was shaking. I could see stuff flying by the windows. I started to be really afraid at night. It was ugly and impossible to describe. You have to be there. I was really scared and hid in the bathroom where there was no window. I didn’t sleep much and the hurricane lasted over 33 hours here. It wasn’t nice outside with cars upside down, roofs that flew away, trees and debris everywhere. We had no power for a week. Seriously, I got really scared at times. The northern bravery was gone, trust me! Next time we have an hurricane and they tell us to leave, I’ll be the first one out.

As I write this, we are January 27, 2000. After the hurricane, here I am, stuck in the snowstorm of the century for North Carolina. I’m in Fayetteville for the All-Star game between the CHL and WCHL. Believe it or not, we got 18 inches of snow here. I’m within an hour from Raleigh where the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes had to cancel a game. You’ve got to see this, it’s total chaos. Roads are closed, cars are stuck everywhere. Everything is closed and people star home. I think that schools will be closed for a week. They declared the state of emergency for 48 hours. People here have nothing to remove the snow. I’ve seen people use garden shovels. The cold weather also doesn’t help as it is 12F and everything froze. I’ve seen everything! At least, I see people helping each other during such disasters. It’s nice to see people help each other like this.

We really depend on Mother Nature. We can’t control her, we just have to deal with whatever she gives us.

To think that birds fly south to get warm weather! They’ll have to start going even more south. It’s not over, they predict more snow over the weekend and cold weather in Atlanta for the Super Bowl. I hope that the Rams will beat the Titans.

If you have questions and suggestions or if you want some information, you can send me email or visit my website at www.promascot.com.

See you soon!