Vacation is Over

Today was our last day at the beach here in North Carolina. The kids took a long walk on the beach in the sunset. It was a beautiful evening. We tried to soak up the beautiful sights as much as we could. When we get back home, all the destruction will still be there waiting for us. Or maybe I'll be surprised at how much has been cleaned up while we were away.

Tomorrow we head back to Slidell. We'll probably spend the night somewhere and get there on Sunday afternoon. It was nice having a little break. It's nice having grandparents who live in a pretty place. There was nothing to do in Slidell this past week anyway, except scavenge the grocery stores and wait around for the insurance adjuster to show up. We haven't even been able to start fixing anything yet since he wants to see the damage before we can make our claim. He is supposed to be there on Monday morning bright and early.

The kids start school again on Monday too. Their teachers called to find out if they are returning. From talking to the teachers, it sounds like there will be a good turn out at school, and attendance will be much better than I imagined. That's wonderful news. I guess we'll see for sure once it starts. I better go turn in early to get ready for the long drive tomorrow!

Hanging out in NC

Hi everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that we are back in civilization again. We arrived in North Carolina this afternoon. It was 836 miles. We drove all day yesterday and then spent the night at a hotel last night and finished the trip today. It went really well. My kids are great little travelers.

I forgot to mention that on Sunday I recruited two more people to walk dogs at the Noah's Wish shelter in Slidell. They were so happy to help. One of them is my neighbor Kathy who is taking care of my dog Oscar's eye until Hubby gets back tomorrow. I'll write more later. Just wanted to let ya know that we're here, safe and sound!

On the Road

I'm so glad my friend Jimmie in Houston dodged the Rita storm! I know it probably feels like that whole evacuation mess that Houston had was a big waste since the storm mostly missed you. (But what if it hadn't?!) I know I felt that way last year during all the Hurricane Ivan evacuation mess. Our evac during Ivan was a complete disaster and we had many of the same problems that Houston did. It was so bungled, that my family decided we were better off staying home than getting stuck on the highway during the storm. We got lucky and missed it.

I think it was a big dress-rehearsal. Louisiana learned so much from that bumbled evac, and this time when it was really important, it went SO much better.

Last year during Ivan it took people 20 hours in their cars to make it 25 miles. Rediculous. And only 80% of the people evacuated. This year, the estimates are that 90% got out and there were no long traffic delays to speak of. It was all very orderly. So, Houston, think of the Rita evac as practice for the next one.

Speaking of being on the road, I'm taking the kids on a long car trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house in North Carolina for the week. Their school doesn't start for one more week, so we're going to hit the beach and try to relax if possible. It's a long drive and we'll probably take two days to do it. Just letting you know since I probably will be away from the blog temporarily.

Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed or not, but I changed the title of my blog from "Hurricane Katrina Refugee" to "Hurricane Katrina Returnee". It just seemed more fitting. :-)

Walkin' Dogs

A few folks have called to check on us with the latest weather, namely Rita. Don't worry, we'd be the first people outta here if we thought we needed to evacuate. The wind started last night, but it's bearable. It probably wouldn't be a problem at all if the community weren't still reeling from Katrina. There is SO much debris outside right now -- much more than there was immediately after Katrina hit because now everyone has returned and is emptying their flooded homes and piling it up outside, where it is now blowing all around. We lost some more of our fence, and someone's blue roof tarp is in our back yard. There's not much rain though, so that's good, especially since we don't have our tarp installed yet. Hubby is outside taking down the flapping parts of our fence before they hurt someone. More than anything, the wind is annoying. It's also really hot AND humid. It's almost 4 PM and it's still blowing. Normally a little breeze feels good, but right now it just feels like hot breath.

This morning I ran into Bob again while evaluating a tree that is about to fall in a neighbor's yard. He is the one I mentioned who has been working with the animal rescue group and making the city facility available for them. The group is called Noah's Wish and their main focus is to help animals during disasters. Bob said they desperately needed volunteers to help walk dogs in Slidell, so I headed over to become a dog walker for all the homeless dogs.

They currently have over 500 animals at their temporary shelter in Slidell. It appears chaotic at first, but it is actually all very well organized. Most of the volunteers were from around the country. They have different people in charge of certain groups of animals, and veterinarian volunteers as well. The dogs need to get out of their crates to go potty since most of them hold it while they are in there. While they are out being walked, another volunteer cleans their crate and replaces the food and water. The animals are all tagged and everything is documented on the sheet attached to their crate so they don't miss anything. Those dogs were so happy to get out and go potty!

They can only be walked one at at time. I helped walk dogs for about 3 hours, so at about 10 minutes per dog, I only did about about 20 dogs. They want to have them all walked at least twice a day, so they need a lot of volunteers. I'm going to try to go back and help as much as I'm able during the next couple of weeks. It will probably be a lot easier once this hot wind stops blowing.

Many of the animals belong to people who have returned to Slidell, but can't care for their animals because they are staying in shelters, hotels, or they are camping in RVs until they can get their houses livable again. While I was there a couple of dogs got to go home with their owners who were so happy to see them. Other animals have not been identified yet, and the group tries to help locate their owners. Eventually, they will foster out the animals locally so their owners can visit them while trying to repair their housing, and then eventually the rest will be adopted.

If anyone in Slidell is reading this and you want to help walk dogs, the shelter is over next to Heritage Park. There is someone at the gate who will tell you where to go. You have to be at least 18 years old to volunteer. Be prepared to get dirty, and you have to use a baggie to pick up whatever poop your pooch pals produce. :-)

Also -- Anyone in Slidell who just needs pet food or leashes or kennels to house your animals, they that available also. There is no charge. Just go talk to them and tell them what you need. I'm sure a lot of people around here can use a dog kennel of some sort since there aren't many backyard fences left standing.


As for my little dog, Oscar, he seems to be doing better. The swelling in his eye has gone down quite a bit and he is no where near as stressed out as he was initially. He still has to wear his big plastic Elizibethan collar though, since he'd still like to scratch at it. The ulcer looks a little better (at least as far as I can tell), and he has a follow up appointment at the vet on Monday.

Smart Kid

I said one of those mom-isms today. You know, one of the things that all mothers say such as, "Careful or you'll put an eye out with that!" What I said was, "We are going to do some house cleaning today -- starting with your bedroom before it is declared a disaster area."

My darling Maddie gave a quick witted reply and said, "Well, Mommy, technically ...it already is!"

When did 9-year-olds get so smart?

Another Slidell Family Blog

I ran across this blog today by Ned and Linda, a family in Slidell, who are dealing with the daily struggle of cleaning up and rebuilding. Their struggle is SO much more difficlut than ours. I do not know them personally, but I am so glad they are able to share their experiences in their blog which was created to keep their family and friends up to date. They give a detailed account of digging out their flooded home and also having to deal with an army of trees that collapsed onto it and other family member's homes as well.

They write, "It'’s Hard to Remember What Our Lives Were Like". It's so true. I've talked to many people with similar circumstances to theirs and it's heartbreaking at the sheer numbers of folks dealing with it. Spending several days helping my friends gut their flooded house really gives perspective on what is involved. Linda writes about the ridiculous cost of tree removal services (I have to agree that it's outrageous!) and the stench of freezer sludge and the removal of flooded belongings. She talks about the huge pile of debris in their front yard and says that, "There is no house in our area that does not have a pile just like ours in front of their house."

She's sure right about that. Almost every neighborhood has those huge piles of debris, and in some neighborhoods I've seen, the piles are almost higher than the houses. Even our neighborhood (which took much less damage by comparison) has huge piles, although nothing like the flooded neighborhoods. The garbage trucks come by and remove the bags of household garbage, but they leave all the debris. Like everyone else in Slidell, we are all hoping that someday the bulldozers will show up to haul it off "somewhere". I don't know where there is a hole big enough for this much debris.

Right now it's raining thanks to the new hurricane in the Gulf, Rita, and all that debris is getting even wetter. It's such a monumental amount of garbage, that I don't even know where they can begin.

I gotta hand it to Linda though for keeping her sense of humor through all of it. I loved yesterday's blog entry where she writes about a dead baby alligator they found in the driveway and it's subsequent burial. She cracked me up. The photos of their damage are amazing, and she keeps up her humor throughout with captions like "the new atrium in the kitchen". Good for her. She's not letting her spirit down despite the monumental clean up job they still have before them.

I just sent them a note about some volunteers at Grace Memorial Baptist Church in Slidell who have come with chain saws and are helping people remove trees for no charge. I don't know if they are still available, but it's worth checking out.

In their photos they also posted a collection taken at the cemetery next to their house. I now have a much better understanding of why the cemetery I wrote about earlier has not had any attention yet. There are obviously many MANY small cemeteries just like this that have been suffered devastation, and it's just going to take some time to get to them all.

Keep up your spirits Ned and Linda. Your account is inspiring.

Tropical Storm Party

I can't stress enough how important it is to stay in touch with your neighbors during a crisis. It's often the best way to get helpful information, and just a great way to feel in touch with your surroundings.

Tonight we had sort of an impromptu block party in my next door neighbor's driveway with neighbors from five different houses who happened to be outside. We stood around exchanging stories and recapping our first week home. We commented on the unusually beautiful sunset and strong breeze courtesy of Hurricane Rita. We are all waiting for the rain and tropical storm winds that we should get soon and that have most people around here rather tense at the moment. One party attendee was Bob, who is staying with a friend on our street after his Slidell home was demolished to a pile of rubble. He was a first responder here in Slidell and had lots of interesting things to share about those first few days when there was no contact with anyone in the city.

Bob also helps with an animal rescue group which is now serving as our Slidell animal control since the regular building was so badly damaged. He says they have about 500 animals over there right now, tons of kennels and truckloads of pet food (so please don't send any more pet food at the moment, but come get some if you need it!). Many of the animals belong to people who returned to the area but are unable to live in their homes because of the flood damage and are being cared for temporarily until they can make arrangements for permanent living. Day by day a few more animals go home with their owners which is good to see. It broke my heart to hear of a few of dogs that were rescued from roof tops in Slidell and have burnt feet from spending several days on hot tar shingle roofs. They got on the roofs during the flood and then were unable to get down after the water receded. Bob says that five local vets have been donating their services to help.

The makeshift animal shelter is at one of our city parks. Bob told us how some "helpful volunteers" keep catching a gaggle of geese every day and locking them up at the shelter. Bob has to keep letting them loose again because these geese actually just live at the park all the time. But he says with a chuckle that it "gives them something to do".

Before we knew it, it was dark outside and we had only the light from the garage to keep us going. Then the power started to blink and the lights faded in and out for a few seconds. Time to go home and dig out the flashlights just in case. Turn out the lights, the party's over!

Grave Tragedy

About a mile down the street from my youngest daughter's school is a small cemetery that was damaged badly by the storm. Several of the above-ground tombs were displaced by the tidal surge. In fact, three of the tombs are across the street from the cemetery in the ditch (see photo of one of them). Power lines and downed trees are all around them.

What's worse is that over in the cemetery is a coffin that is completely out of its tomb. I made some phone calls to report it. First I called the environmental control office, who told me to call the sheriff's office, who told me to call the coroner's office. So I called the coroner's office and talked to their answering service, and I was told that they are already aware of it. I guess having a coffin sitting out in the open for over three weeks is not a problem for them.

I found an article about the family who owns many of the plots, so I guess they are aware of it, but from the looks of it, they probably don't have the money to fix this.

I am hoping that by posting this photo of one of the tombs in the ditch, it will get someone's attention and light a fire under the right butt at the coroner's office (or wherever) to at least come pick up the coffin until it can be reinterred. The displaced tombs are one matter, especially with the power lines around them, because at least they are still sealed. But, the coffin out in the open after three weeks just seems so wrong.

I should give them the benefit of the doubt though since I don't know the condition of the coroner's office building or equipment, and they may not have any of their employees available either since the may be homeless or living somewhere else now. They are aware, so hopefully they have a plan. Hopefully they are doing everything they can. At least I tried.

Need Some Prayers

My poor little pug dog was behaving strangely yesterday. I finally realized that he could not see -- at all. His vision has always been a little impaired because he is mostly blind in one eye, but now he has suddenly lost the vision in his only good eye. He somehow scratched the eye surface and an infection quickly set in and clouded his whole eyeball. I took him immediately to the vet and he is on oral and topical antibiotics and a pain killer. He is very distressed and kept scratching at it with his paw. He has to wear the plastic collar to keep from injuring it further. This morning it looks even worse to me, and is developing into a corneal ulcer. The vet says it's possible to regain his vision, but it's a slim chance. Right now he has a good chance of needing the whole eyeball removed if we can't stop the infection. He's a good boy and needs some prayers.

Also needing prayers are the folks in Texas about to get hit by Hurricane Rita. I hope my friend Jimmie is getting out of there. People here in Slidell are already starting to panic about the storm. There is a run on gasoline again, and people were yelling at each other in the gas station this morning. Lots of folks ere also filling up gas cans too. We have decided that it is a bad idea to store or travel with full gas cans and if we have to evacuate again, we will bring our EMPTY cans with us. I am also REALLY hoping the blue roof guys get here to install our tarp before the rain comes. It is already getting a little bit windy outside. One way or another we're going to get some more rain soon. Many people here in Slidell are evacuating now anyway because their housing situation is so unstable, especially those camping out in tents and RV's, although many of those are building contractors I suspect.

Oh, our insurance adjustor called us yesterday and says he has to reschedule, and that he will call us next week. Apparently he had to go home for an emergency -- he lives in Houston and had to get his family out before Rita gets there. I wished him good luck. He needs some prayers too. I hope his home and family are safe so that he can get back here to help us folks in Slidell as soon as possible.

I went to the grocery store this morning. The kids thought pizza for dinner would be good. I literally bought the very last frozen pizza in the whole store. There is plenty of other food available, but it's just so strange to not be able to walk into a huge grocery store and buy what you want. Apparently they are in need of employees too from the "help wanted" sign on the door. Many of the businesses around here are looking for workers.

My friend Mike who was here to gut his house left today to head back to his family in Texas. They are in the Fort Worth area, and he needs some prayers for a safe journey. The highways in Texas are jammed right now.

Everything is an emergency around here all the time. It's really getting to be exhausting.

Not So Lovely Rita

I don't have much to say about the poor folks in Texas with the approaching storm, Rita, except this: "Get out!" If they call for your area to evacuate, then just do it. Don't evaluate it or try to "decide" if you can ride it out. It's not worth the risk. It's just not worth it.

Oh, and one more tiny bit of advice, take some empty gas cans with you if you have any! You may need them to get back home again. And don't forget your pet's vaccination records. You will have many more options if you have them with you. Oh, and take the milk in your fridge with you or just pour it out! It's only a $4 gallon of milk and it could save you HOURS of work later if you just get rid of it now. And if you are going to stay with family, then take as much out of your freezer as you can and just bring it with you and put it in your family's freezer. You'll need something to eat while you are there anyway.

Good luck Texans. :-(

One week Home

Well, we've officially been home for a week. Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. I've been doing manual labor at my friend's house. What a huge mess. Mike finished cutting out most of the sheet rock today and I helped haul it out of the house and sweep up. He has the most positive outlook I have ever known in a human. Their dining room now has no carpet and only half of the walls in place. I swept it and put the furniture back where it belonged. He thought it looked really great. Ummm, yes, let's invite the Queen over for tea! I'm sure she won't mind the insulation hanging out all over the exposed wall studs, not to mention the bare concrete slab. :-)

I guess being it's all you can do. They have a lot of work ahead of them, but he just keeps working along and saying, "I really needed to clean out the garage anyway. This just gives me an excuse". Of course, almost everything in the garage was full of water, but what the heck.

Update on the fridge patient: It's not looking good. The fridge has taken a turn for the worse and may not recover. Of course, at this point, it may not have any choice but to keep fighting since Mike & Jeannie may have some clause in their insurance policy excluding appliances that were damaged due to loss of power. I am hoping they can get it covered under the flood policy if the homeowners policy refuses. I really do think it's the 4 inches of water that is causing the undying smell from the crevasses at the bottom. Anyway. We're giving it one last hope and I am going to turn it back off tomorrow and let it air out for about 2 weeks. It was a brand new fridge! It can't die!

Here's a picture I took today not far from my home. It says, "Looters will be shot". It's difficult to read in the photo because it's written in red pen, but there is no mistaking it in person. Luckily there have not really been any problems with that here in Slidell.

Also, here's a picture of someone with a "Yard of the Month" sign in their yard. And here I was thinking that MY yard was the yard of the month. Written underneath it says, "landscaping by Katrina".

Next is a picture of the much inquired daquiri shop. They have a lovely drive-thru window which comes in handy on the way to Mardi Gras parades or other events. My friend Devra will be so pleased to see that it was not badly damaged. The photo is blurry because I took it as I was driving by - and, no, I did not just drive THROUGH. ;-)

Here is the gas station where Hubby used to buy his gas every week for his commute to New Orleans. It's difficult to completely appreciate the amount of damage from looking at the photo. Only one gas pump remains standing.

We ran a few errands and some national guardsmen gave the kids lollipops when I went to get some more bottled water. It was a nice treat for the kids and well desereved considering they helped haul in about a thousand shingles from my friend's yard today. They are such good little community workers. I explained the concept of "pay it forward" to them, and they couldn't wait to help. That and the promise of a cold Frosty from Wendy's was all the motivation they needed. (yes, Wendy's finally opened!!) I just love those kids.



Hubby spent the day in Baton Rouge helping get some of his grad students settled. It went wll I think. This week week we will be meeting with our insurance adjustor. I have already had one estimate done on our roof. Yikes. I had no idea roofing was so expensive. I hope our adjustor is good to us.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I went to my church on Sunday. Our church was damaged and we had to meet in another building instead. We will have to get a contractor to make the church building usable again. Shouldn't take too long. It was very crowded and very emotional. I saw many of my friends, most of whom had just returned home this week as we did, and most had not seen each other since the disaster began.

Hugs and tears abounded. It was good to see everyone again.

Pay It Forward

Remember what it's like to discover a toxic science experiment growing in the back of your fridge? Perhaps it's just a box of leftover Chinese food that you put in there a month ago? Now imagine an entire refridgerator and freezer full of food that has been a toxic experiment at 95+ degree temperatures. Once again - an ENTIRE fridge full of rotting stinking decomposing melting dripping oozing food. Now hold that thought.

During our refugee period, my sister went to Slidell while I stayed with the kids in Nashville and she emptied my fridge for me after it sat rotting in the heat and humidity for an entire week. I am eternally grateful to her. It's unlikely that I can ever pay this favor back. But today I had a chance to pay it forward instead.

My very wonderful friend Jeannie's husband, Mike, was finally able to get a couple of days leave to come inspect their home while she and the kids are still holed up in Texas. It's been about 2-1/2 weeks since the disaster struck. Sadly, they had 3-4 inches of water flood their beautiful home. It may as well have been 3 feet.

The mold is already growing about 18 inches up the walls and it will all have to be torn out. Much of the furniture is ruined from water soaking up in to the wood as it sat on saturated carpet. None of the doors will close anymore because they all swollen from the water damage. Mildew is everywhere. One of the upstairs rooms also flooded from water coming in through the damaged roof and pouring through the light fixture on the ceiling.

My Hubby helped Mike remove all the stinky moldy carpet from the house while I tackled the fridge. It was a brand new beautiful stainless steel fridge with a spiffy ice maker in the door and was only 4 months old. Hubby and Mike hauled it outside before opening it, and then they tossed all the big stinky stuff into a trash bag. Some of it was re-frozen since the power had come back on a couple of days ago which did help make the chore more bearable. I removed everything else including all the shelves and drawers, and tossed it onto the lawn. Immediately the flies descended upon it all like a Hitchcock movie.

It produced an odor that smelled like it came from the very pit of Hell. I began to hose it all down. The neighbors held their noses. They were familiar with our plight, and they understood what had to be done. A few of them offered helpful advice. Then I got serious and got out my big gun. I wonder if Martha Stewart has ever used a pressure washer to clean a stinky fridge?

The prognosis for the fridge is very good. I think it's going to live, but we'll know more tomorrow. I gave it two loaves of bread and some coffee grounds, and I'm going to call on it in the morning.

We Got TV and Water

We got tv!! Now I won't have to drive to Tennessee to watch the season premier of Desperate Housewives in two weeks. (Sorry Sis, but I won't be there to watch it with you.) Our paper this morning said that so far 10-20% of the area has cable restored right now, so apparently we are in that lucky percentage. Our internet is not working quite right though, but it's better than nothing.

Our local tv news is rather interesting. It looks like a primitive 1960's news set. Since they are obviously unable to broadcast from their regular set in New Orleans and are using a remote location, they don't have their fancy news desk, studio set, or teleprompts. Instead, they are having to "rough it" with a regular desk and hard copy sheets of paper. Behind them is a big tv screen with the station's logo, white walls and only one camera to shoot it all. I gotta hand it to them though, they are there and they are getting the news out. The show must go on.

We got water! Someone spraypainted our "boil water" sign at our neighborhood entrance to say, "water ok", so I called the parish to verify this, and our water is ok as of yesterday. There are still several neighborhoods in Slidell that are not ok, so if you are looking for information on this, the number for the St. Tammany Parish Dept of Environmental Services is 898-2535.

We also got comics! We have been getting a small version of the local paper for the past few days - about 6-8 pages total. Today it is much bigger and it had comics in it! Woohoo! The return of the funny papers! I also especially enjoyed Chris Rose's column in the paper this morning, especially where he wrote, "By reporting this scene, I have become the media covering the media covering the media." He is one of my favorite local columnists. I recognized him from his photo and said hello to him once at a Mardi Gras parade last year.

The paper also had news about the schools in Slidell. Two of them will not be reopened by the Oct. 3 start date goal, and four others are going to be cutting it close to meet the deadline. One of those schools is where my youngest daughter attends 1st grade . If it's not able to open in time, she will be attending the school next door. Hubby is going over there this afternoon to see if they need volunteers to help get it ready. The best thing about her school is the amount of parental involvment it encourages. Parents are involved in everything. It's a wonderful school.

We haven't had any more mail delivered since that first batch of two-week-old mail a couple of days ago. That mail was probably already at our post office before the storm. So we're not sure if new mail is able to get through yet or if it's being held up somewhere. Normally it goes through the New Orleans distribution center. Hmmm.

I spent 45 minutes standing in line at the checkout at Walmart yesterday. I have never spent that long in line at Walmart, even during the holiday shopping season. I read two magazines from cover to cover and then had to take a formerly frozen item back to the shelf to replace it with one that was still cold, and it still wasn't my turn yet. For the most part, people in general are pretty patient with everything, although one guy in his car got mad at me in the parking lot when I was trying to avoid a big pile of metal debris in the road as I left the store. I guess the return of tempers flaring is another sign that things are returning to normal. :-)

The New Normal

It's kind of shocking when you first get back to town and see the changed landscape, but after my third day at home, I think I am becoming accustomed to all the destruction, or maybe I'm just feeling like everything really will be ok. I could barely believe my eyes when I first got home a couple days ago. The shock and stress of it was overwhelming. But now, either things are really starting to get cleaned up and back in order very quickly, or I'm just getting used to it all.

The sea of blue roofs from the Army Corp of Engineers is becoming normal looking. The ever-growing piles of debris that are along the roadsides is no longer a shock. Sadness at the sight of the graveyard of fallen trees is being replaced with relief as they are slowly being cut up and cleared away. The overall stench in the air seems to have either diminished, or again I'm just used to it now. It doesn't feel weird anymore to use the jugs of bottled water for cooking or to brush my teeth. I guess it's all just a new sense of "normal".

FYI, one neighbor got sick from drinking the tap water last week after they returned. He accidentally drank a glass of it while taking some medicine. He is still fighting the effects but is improving.

Hubby and I have been working on our insurance claim. We have an appointment with our adjustor who is coming out to the house next week. Our blue roof might already be installed by then. We've been reading some sad stories in our paper about people in the area who are having trouble because their flood insurance coverage is limited and their homeowners won't make up the difference.

We got mail! It's slow, but it's coming. The mail we got was over two weeks old, but it arrived. Hooray! We are now getting our paper again too, even though it's just a few pages. We are starting to feel connected again. Things really are starting to feel ok. A year from now, normal really will be normal normal.

Neighbor Pics

Joe is a neighbor who lives on my street. He is in the military and is currently deployed overseas. While he is away, I am doing for him what CNN would not do for me. I am taking a picture and posting the "after" photos of his home. Click the pictures for a closeup.

Overall, Joe's house had minor damage and did really well. He had the top of the chimney knocked off and some siding is missing from it. The roof doesn't look too bad from the front, but is missing a few more shingles on the back. They lost the big tree to the right of the house although it's hard to see in the picture. The tree to the left held up really well and is one of the bigger trees on the block. The fence is down everywhere which doesn't make the dog very happy, but there was no flooding and the power is back on.

Now, before a hundred people that I've never met start asking me to post photos, I would like to note that this is a special favor for a serviceman who is also a neighbor of mine. I wish I could do this for everyone but even CNN couldn't do it and think of the manpower they have. I am just one person. Instead, look for your house in these aerial photos that I've posted before.

The last time I talked to Joe and his family was right after they moved in when they came to our annual Halloween party. They probably have not recognized me since then because when we first met, I was dressed like this.

I talked with Mrs. Joe when I went over to take the picture, but I was not invited in for a shot of Bailey's (hee hee). I had to get back and make dinner anyway. After our scary introduction in with skeleton garb last October, I wouldn't have invited me in either. ;-)

Everyday Errands

I made it to the bank today and discovered why the line was so long. It's because they were only letting customers inside one at at time, and they would lock the door behind you and unlock it to let you out. I guess they didn't want the crowd to get out of control if someone flipped out at their bank account situation. There were a couple of national guard dudes outside for security. Is it just because I'm getting old, or do those guys all look really really young to be carrying around such big guns?

I also went to the grocery store. I'm so glad that it's open for business, but it was a little disturbing to see it so sparse. I guess you just get used to visiting a grocery store and expecting every shelf overflowing with abundant choices and tons of every kind of food you can imagine. I'd say they had about half of their normal inventory. In some ways it was quite calming not to have so many choices, and it made me appreciate what was there all the more.

There were plenty of canned goods, milk and meat, and as you can see from the photo, there are also plenty of Ore-Ida frozen potatoes. I didn't buy any of those. But I bought some hamburger to make Sloppy Joes and some stew meat to throw in the crock pot for a beef stew, but there is no way that I'm buying more than one or two days worth of meat ever again. Just call it "freezer-phobia!"

There were only a few people shopping, so maybe they didn't really need much inventory yet. You can see in this picture that there was either a big run on cheese (possibly to top off the MRE's that everyone is eating), or else the new cheese supply hadn't arrived yet. I only took one pack of cheese, and left the rest for someone else. Normally I would buy several and keep them in my freezer (ack!). There was definitely a run on bleach and baking soda. Luckily I stocked up on that stuff before we left Nashville.

Everyone is so busy working on our big Slidellian mess. People are being very nice and everyone is helping each other. I guess it does feel good to be back.

First Day Back

Our subdivision has a different water company than most of the city and our neighborhood in particular is still on the "must boil" alert. It still tests positive for bacteria. So, I stopped at the FEMA supply station this morning where hordes of FEMA workers very efficiently directed cars through the stations, opened my trunk and loaded it up with water, ice and a case of MRE's (meals ready to eat), and then hustled me out of there. No, I did not ask them to smile for the picture. The security folks had HUGE guns and made me nervous. They were there to do their job, not to mess around. We'll have to go back for more water tomorrow, and ice for the neighbors who had to toss their fridge.

I also went to St. Margaret Mary school where the Army Corps of Engineers has set up their office to help homeowners with the temporary "blue roof tarps". More than half of my neighbors have them already. We got on the list, but it will be another week or two before they get to us. I hope it doesn't rain before then. We can get some real frog chokers here. I can't seem to get a hold of my friend who is still holed up in a hotel in Texas to see if I can get a blue roof for her house which needs it very badly. From what I could see in the front door window of her house, it must have gotten water inside too because the mold is growing about 18 inches up the walls and all her neighbors have their carpet out on the street already. I can only imagine what it smells like in there right now. :-(

I also stopped by our insurance agent's office. We are on the list with an adjuster, but I was told not to try to repair anything until he looks at it first. We have no idea when he will be able to show up. I also tried to go to the bank that was open today, but the line was all the way out the door, so I gave up.

We worked for hours trying to pick up all the fiberglass insulation that is all over the place. We were actually using the shop vac to try to suck it up. It worked a little. Hubby cut down the tree that fell and hauled some of it to the curb. We'll need a truck or something to remove the stump. We also propped some of the fence up and removed the more dangerous parts. Almost every fence post will have to be dug up and replaced when we eventually repair the whole thing. They are all bent or broken at the base. Pretty amazing considering they are made of steel.

We made a little area for the dogs to run around in, and they are so happy to be out of that little crate. I worked hard on my freezer and even used a pressure washer, but I think it's hopeless. I tried to help my neighbor's with their fridge, but the pressure washer revealed an area where maggots had gotten deep inside the walls where we could not clean, so then I helped them haul it to the curb! Everything stinks. Stink stink stink.

There is garbage everywhere and blue roofs all over the place. People are working hard and helping each other, but everyone looks so tired. They have lost jobs, homes (many are living with friends in our neighborhood), and some have already moved away permanently and rented out their home to the contractors who are in town.

We found the kid's playhouse one street over and all the way at the end of the street. We walked up to it carefully in case it had landed on the Wicked Witch of the East. I'm sure her name must have been Katrina. The playhouse was badly broken and we couldn't find its roof anywhere so we left it there for now.

It is so crowded here and the traffic is double what it usually is. There are FEMA trucks, Red Cross people, insurance company catastrophe teams, police, disaster relief volunteers from other states, and tons of contractors, builders and tree removal people. Helicopters fly over every few minutes. Hubby and I had a long talk with the kids at dinner tonight about all the new strangers in town. There are already many strange men working in our neighborhood. We want the kids to be extra aware with so many strangers around. There will likely be plenty of them in town for months to come.

I am unable to send email from my regular email account because of this crazy dial-up AOL account. I'll have to work on that tomorrow. One more thing for the list. At least we are able to have internet at all. Oh, and hey, Devra, I took a picture of the Daquiri place which looked ok, but they were definitely not open. Tonight, I will be opening my teensy tiny emergency bottle of Bailey's Irish Creme that you sent me for emergencies only. If this isn't an emergency, then I don't know what is. I live in a freakin' disaster area!

Home at Last

We got home tonight about an hour before sunset. I walked around my neighborhood for the first thirty minutes with my mouth hanging open. The pictures don't really prepare you for the overall amount of destruction that is here. Instead of suburbia, I feel like I live at the city dump. Everything is a huge mess. And the smell is really really bad. Most of the smell is from the rotting household garbage that hasn't been picked up yet.

For those of you who are wondering how I am online already, it's the first thing I did after I came inside. Our regular cable internet connection is out indefinitely, so I am on a slow AOL dial up that I arranged immediately. Except for this computer, we have almost no contact with the outside world. We can't get tv. We have no newspaper. I can't even get the radio station that we are supposed to be able to get. If another hurricane were coming right now, we wouldn't even know it. I feel like my computer is my only link to the real world right now.

The destruction of the trees and interstate signs got worse and worse the closer we got to home. It's strange driving down the interstate with almost no signs to tell you what city is at each exit. We passed a huge convoy of animal control vehicles coming this way. I wonder if they were coming to help relocate a few alligators.

When we pulled into my neighborhood, I almost turned down the wrong street because it was all so unrecognizable. I haven't even seen any of the nearby neighborhoods yet. The nieghbors were all outside and happy to see us returning.

Lots of stuff is up and running already, which is good. And most people in my neighborhood have come home. Chain saws were buzzing to cut down fallen trees. The corps of engineers has been helping people put big blue tarps on all the roof tops. We're going tomorrow to get our house on the list because it definitely needs one. The traffic lights are all working. Two grocery stores are open, and gas is available again.

I worked on the fridge for about 3 hours taking it all apart and re-cleaning every crevass. I also figured out how to remove the horrid drip tray and about gagged. I think it will be fine though. The freezer in the garage is another story. I don't think it will ever recover.

I was wondering how I would feel when I got here. I think shock is a good word. Also, scared. Just knowing that our home is in a hurricane alley is an uneasy feeling, especially after seeing what it can do. I feel like we'll always be looking over our shoulder for the next one.

Tomorrow morning we have to call the environmental services office to find out about our water because we are not on the same water system as the rest of the city. Then we're going to take down the plywood from the windows, build a temporary dog pen, check out our banking situation, and get some help with our roof. And that's just for tomorrow. We've started a long list of other things to after that. It's hard to know where to begin.

Hitting The Road

I had nightmares all night last night about my house flooding with me in it, and about evacuating over and over again to avoid approaching danger of various kinds. I think I'm a little bit stressed about returning home.

My parents have hurricane Ophelia knocking at their door right now in the Carolinas. They live not far from where this story on CNN is set. And to think I could be there right now for round two of all this fun. Hang in there Mom and Dad! I know it's only a catagory 1 storm, but get out if they tell you to leave. Do not mess around even if you do have a house made with cement walls. Come down and stay with us in Louisiana if you have to evacuate. :-)

I just finished my morning coffee and we are going to start loading the car and the minivan. I know the dogs will be happy to get back to their own yard although we will have to come up with some other way to fence them temporarily. When we get home, I may not have Internet access for a while, but I will post again as soon as I do. My sis wants me to make sure to give her the play by play on the outcome of our refridgerator and freezer. We won't have mail service for a while either, although we can drive over to one of our post offices to pick up mail that gets through. Our phone seems to work at the house most of the time, so we'll be available that way at least.

Time to hit the road and head home. I guess I'm not a refugee anymore.

Heading Home

I talked to another neighbor last night and she said that apparently the Slidell Mayor was on the radio and said that the Slidell water is now safe. She also said that they are starting to take down the "boil water" signs around town and replace them with signs that say the water is ok. I found the same info on the City of Slidell official website (see previous post). Lots of people are back now and it's time for us to go home.

We have decided to spend today packing up and getting some more supplies from the store and then head home on Monday morning. We're going to church with Sis and her hubby this morning first to thank God for everything we have.

Slidell Mayor's Message

Hurricane Katrina Update 9-10-05

To the Citizens of Slidell,

The Weather Service reports that Slidell had sustained winds of 176 mph and gusts of 190+ mph during Hurricane Katrina. In addition, Slidell was hit by a 23’-26’ storm surge that devastated much of the city. This has been very difficult for everyone, but I want to report that we are making great progress thanks to the many city workers, police officers and firefighters, citizens and volunteers who have worked so hard over these last two weeks. Here is the latest:

Our water service is now operational and the drinking water in the City of Slidell is safe to drink and cook with. You do not need to boil your water first.

Our sewer system is also operational.

Telephone service is back up and running; however, Charter Communications has still not recovered.

Clean up is still in progress, thanks to our city work crews and the efforts of over 400 United Stated Marines from around the country.

Security remains tight throughout the City of Slidell. Curfew is still in affect from 9:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m. and is being strictly enforced. The Slidell Police Department is receiving assistance from police officers from across the nation, as well as the Louisiana National Guard and the Alabama National Guard.

Cleco continues to do a tremendous job. There are working lights now on major thoroughfares throughout the city and in some subdivisions. Considering the catastrophic damage to the system, it is absolutely amazing that we have come as far as we have.

...[read the entire message here]

...
Thank you and stay safe,
Mayor Ben Morris

From the City of Slidell Official Website

More Aerial Photos

Here are a few aerial photos of Slidell after the hurricane that are posted on the City's website as well as some other photos of the damage in Slidell.

Also, I posted this one eariler -- here are some military fly over photos of the entire area affected by the hurricane. Click the boxes to locate your home.

Open For Business

My sister took us out to a Nashville country bar last night for some live music while my neice babysat the kids. It was nice to get out and have fun again. I didn't get a chance to check the updates from our local government yesterday, and today I am happy to see the following letter:

A STATEMENT FROM PARISH PRESIDENT KEVIN DAVIS

Beginning at 8:00 am Friday morning September 9, 2005, St. Tammany parish residents are allowed to return to the parish. I, along with Tammany mayors, police chiefs and the sheriff's office, thank all St. Tammany parish residents for their patience. At this time, approximately 36% of the parish has power. Water and sewer systems are coming back on-line.

Residents whose homes are safe for occupancy may return to their homes. If your home was flooded or received major damage, do not live in the home. You should return to the place to which you evacuated, stay with a friend or relative, or enter a Red Cross shelter. If it is possible for you to make contingency plans before you enter the parish, we encourage you to do so.

As of this morning, all St. Tammany Parish hospitals have power. Law enforcement officials have the parish under control. A curfew remains in place from 9:00 pm to 7:00 am.

Residents in the low-lying areas of the parish should be prepared to face major home damage or possible devastation. Many homes are destroyed in our coastal areas. Do not attempt to live or camp out in any of these areas. Flood waters carry mud that contain chemicals and other contaminants that pose serious health risks.

Yours truly,

Kevin Davis
Parish President

So now, Hubby and I are trying to decide if we should head back home maybe even as early as tomorrow. The water is still on a boil order, but I talked to a neighbor this morning and the grocery store opened back up and they have been busy re-stocking it. Also, several of the gas stations have reopened are are up and running. I think it's time to start heading back to face the music. We'll keep you posted as we make our decision.

Missing Home

I have no idea when we will be going home, but hopefully only another week or two. We're going to wait until the authorities really want us to return which will probably not be until water and food are available in the area. I don't know what the rush is to get back anyway, except that I'm just ready to get things going again. I know it's just going to be a disaster there, but I am really starting to want to just go home. I just want everything back to normal!

As we keep saying, at least we still have a house there, even if it is a little beat up. We'll be able to fix it with no problem. Our town will probably never be the same again though. So much that was part of the community I loved is no longer there anymore.

I still just want to get home and get it over with.

A Bailey's Moment

I feel like I'm George Bailey on New Year's Eve when all his friends came to help him. This is pretty funny considering hubby is always joking about my non-existant virtual friends. I'm referring to my group of Internet friends that I've been corresponding with via email since 1996. Some of them I have still never met in real life, but many of them I have welcomed to my home in Slidell, taken to Mardi Gras parades, or met for lunch when our paths crossed in other cities.

We got some care packages in the mail yesterday from some of them that made our day. Except for what has come in the mail, the kids have not had any other toys for the entire time we have been here which is about 13 days today. The shrieks from the girls at the sight of the Barbies could probably be heard around the county. We also got some grocery and Walmart gift cards and other envelopes full of generosity from friends and beloved family as well.

I feel a little unworthy accepting it all though, because so many people have lost so much compared to us. So if it gets to be too much, I am going to pass it along to some of my elderly neighbors and friends who need the help too. I hope you don't mind. Thank you with all my heart.

The kids have organized their goodies into different boxes - one for school supplies, one for toys, one for fun snacks, and one for kids books. They have been really good about doing their school assignments and staying on task until their work is completed for the day. I'm really proud of them.

And speaking of "Bailey's", my Internet friend Barb sent me a whole bottle of Bailey's Irish Creme, and I wasted no time cracking that puppy open. I think Sis needed it as much as I did. I'm sure most folks would agree that taking 5 people and two dogs into your 1100 sf home overnight when you only have one bathroom is quite a Bailey's occasion, indeed.

So, to my friends and family again I say thank you. You are the best support system a girl could ever have. Thank you for all your cards, letters, email messages, blog comments, phone calls, emotional support, offers for lodging, gifts, and everything else too. I cannot thank you enough.

I'll end this with my favorite quote from It's a Wonderful Life:

"No man is a failure who has friends."

Power but no Safe Water

Power is back on in my neighborhood according to my next door neighbor. Unbelievable. It only took 10 days.

I got this from a friend who lives one street over:

We were in MeadowLake Monday and Tuesday and affirm how lucky we all are to have escaped the aftermath of others in Slidell. Our house had the missing roof cap and water damage to walls and flooring, missing shingles and a broken fence.

We stayed in our house and "roughed it" but left for my sister's house until conditions are better. There is water trickles for showers, but officials caution against bathing in it with any open skin, or brushing teeth with it.

I just heard from two other neighbors who are planning to return this weekend. They are going to stock up on supplies before returning. I think we'll wait and see if the gas situation is improving first so we don't get stuck. I do not want to haul gasoline in the car with my children all that way. Plus, we'd need an awful lot of gas for both cars. There is still a shortage of food, drinkable water, and supplies of every kind. Many people are starting to head back now, but the St. Tammany officials would prefer if we stayed away to keep the streets clear and not use limited resources in order to make their jobs easier regarding restoring services.

Military Families

My good friend has had a very hard week. Harder than mine. Her husband is in the military and they live(d) in a neighborhood near mine. Like many others, he evacuated his family, and then immediately reported to work to help disaster victims. My friend saw her husband a total of 6 hours that whole first week, because he was there helping people and was there from day one (Sunday before the storm came on Monday).

The shrieking accusations that nothing was being done have been really hard on her and the other military wives that are holed up in a hotel with her. Their husbands have been out there helping since before the levees broke and all hell broke loose. Everywhere she goes, all she hears is what a crappy job her husband and every other first responder have done. Her kids are beginning to feel the pressure of all of this. They were at the store one day last week and heard someone hollering that that nothing was getting done, and that "OBVIOUSLY the military and everybody are incompetent". Her 11 year old daughter stood there in shock and then replied, "NO THEY'RE NOT. MY DAD'S NOT. He is doing something. We haven't seen him for 4 days because he's helping somebody else."

Meanwhile, the homes of many of the military families in the area have been destroyed or completely emptied by looters while they were away trying to help people.

I don't want this to become a big political blog, so all I'm asking is that people please try to have some compassion for our military members and watch what you say around their families. I love my friend with all my heart and I'm so sorry that she has had to deal with this disaster in this way.

Time to Stock up

Some good information about our area is available online at our official St. Tammany Parish Government website at www.stpgov.org. They post nightly updates at 5 p.m.

Apparently they they have banned the sale of alcoholic beverages in the entire parish. Probably a good idea. One of my friends wrote to say, "Forget bringing in extra gas - stock up on beer!"

NOVA Hurricane Video

This NOVA Hurricane Video on PBS.org was first aired Jan 25, 2005. It is a 12 minute show about the "potential" disaster that can occur in a city like New Orleans in the face of a devastating hurricane. It is eerie to watch and listen to the "worst case scenario" they discuss since that is exactly what has now happened. It also talks a little bit about how the city reacted to the big threat last year with Hurricane Ivan. Click the "Watch the Segment" on the left side to view the show. We have seen many clips like this on tv and our local news over the past year, especially since Ivan. Once again I note that we were warned.

School Daze

We started our home schooling lessons yesterday. The kids were actually thrilled. I had no idea they could be so enthusiastic about getting back to work. We are probably not as organized as most full time homeschool families, but I am just getting the hang of it. My real goal is just to help them keep their skills up and maybe catch up on some areas where they needed a little remediation - my son's handwriting needs a lot of work! I have found many resources on the internet that we can use. They are happily using all the school supplies sent by Aunt J. Thanks so much!

Yesterday they joked a lot about having "recess" and kept raising their hands to go to the bathroom. When it was time to make lunch, they wanted to know if they had to eat yucky cafeteria food. When they had to make their own lunch, they pretended to be cafeteria workers. Today they worked much more seriously and got a lot more accomplished. I'm very proud of them.

Their first assignment was to write an essay about their experiences this week. According to his essay, Justin is practically on a vacation. Maddie's essy shows a lot of concern for others and great relief that our home was not severely damaged, but I think the whole idea of the evacuation has been very hard and scary for her. Morgan's essay was short and sweet but says it all. I especially like her first sentence. Here it is (remember, she is just starting 1st grade):

Hurricane Katrina

Our family survived.
We went to Aunt Toe's.
We shoved the dogs in the car.

She finished it with a lovely drawing of our minivan with a dog in it.

The news from our St. Tammany school system says that threir goal is to have schools reopened in a month. But, I just learned that this may not necessarily apply to the schools in Slidell, just the rest of the Parish. It's definitely a priority to get them up and running again soon though.

Hubby has been working on making arrangements for some of his grad students to work on their studies in other labs while Tulane is getting re-established.

It sounds like things are really starting to get going on the clean up and restoration in Slidell. Our community has a long way to go and it will be a while before things are running smoothly again, but people are really working hard. They love their home and community. I personally love how my neighbors and church friends have all come together through email and phone calls even though we are currently spread all over the South right now. It's amazing.

When the basics are restored to our community, we will probably try go home and start picking up our mess and figuring out what to do next. We heard that the power has come back on in some of the homes in our area today. I have several elderly neighbors that I will be helping too. I hope they don't rush back to live before other things are back online -- especially the drinking water, grocery stores, and gasoline! I imagine these things will be restored again quickly as the power comes back. I have no idea when mail delivery will resume there. I almost hate to go back at all without mail or internet. I will feel very cut off from everyone if that happens. Wandering around in limbo not knowing when we can return home is frustrating enough.

I want to thank everyone who has been thinking of us and who has sent things to us. And especially my friend Barb who sent us some fancy Chicago Pizzas by Fed Ex today. What a nice treat. My neice and nephew made some cute little cards for us, one of which says, "You still have your home!" and has a picture of big thunderbolts over our house. I also want to thank you for all your emails and blog comments. We are very blessed indeed.

Our House Photos

Here are the photos of the exterior damage to our house. These are not photos of death and catastrophic destruction. It's just the external damage to our house which held up very well considering a category 4 hurricane passed right over it. Once the power is back on, and the basic infrastructure of the town is restored (food, gas, drinkable water), then we will have no problem living in the home while we make repairs. We feel very fortunate. We will use these photos to help with the insurance claim, and I know my family wants to see these. After seeing the pictures of some of the nearby damage, I really don't know how we got so lucky.

Yesterday I noticed something in the emails from various friends and neighbors in Slidell. In three different messages people were writing how they were eager to get back home again. A few days ago, it seemed like no one ever wanted to go there again. Now they can't wait to get back and get back to business as usual. I just thought it was interesting.

Many of our friends and co-workers have lost everything they own (most notably in New Orleans) - homes, cars, pets. I have many other friends whose homes are salvageable, but have damage that is so severe that they will not be able to live in their homes for months. I cannot write enough about what everyone says about the stench.

Good news: Some of the utilities have been starting to come back on in Slidell. We have been watching the local paper's website at Nola.com and we now see that the power is on in Covington and the WalMart and Lowe's have opened up. Our neighborhood will probably have power soon since our power utilities were all below ground and will not be too difficult to repair. The St. Tammany Parish school board has hopes of having school started again in a month.

The stories of murder and death over in New Orleans are too much for me to see and read. I have not watched TV in two days, and we don't get the paper. A cousin of mine has offered to save the New York Times papers from this week for me to read sometime. I wish I could have the Times-Picayune too (the New Orleans Paper), so if anyone knows where I can get copies of that, please let me know. I'm not ready to read them yet, but I know I will be soon.

I just want things to feel normal again. It sounds like Slidell is working hard to do just that.

Resting Peacefully

Hubby brought the air mattress back with him from our garage. My precious angels finally have something more comfortable than the living room floor. Sis took this picture of them this morning while they were still sound asleep. Darling son is asleep on the couch next to them. Now they all have a comfy spot to sleep and don't have to continue the rotation schedule they came up with for the sofa.

Our current plan is to hang out here for a little while longer. Our home will be livable again before too long. Meanwhile, plenty of bonding time with the Aunties! Yesterday Aunt Aimee took them swimming at her apartment complex and then to a little Labor Day weekend carnival. They are so relieved that their house is ok and their Barbies are there waiting for them.

I replaced the "after" picture of the house in the previous entry that shows it more clearly. I am still working on uploading all the other photos they took.

"After" Photo

Here it is at long last. Click the photo to see a larger version, and then you can click it one more time to get the superlarge detailed one.

I wish I could have seen it myself. Not too bad all things considered. Two shutters gone. Missing a bit of siding and shingles. No broken windows. The tree looks a little beat up, but it'll be fine. Amazing.

We got a message from Tulane. They are trying to re-establish contact with their 6000 employees and go from there. Here's another message from Tulane from yesterday.

Here's another view of the front of the house in different light:


I have a whole bunch of much more detailed pictures that I will try to get posted tomorrow (Monday). Thanks for all your loving support everyone.

Not Everyone Is So Lucky

I know most of us are just happy to have escaped with our lives, and the coming days and weeks will show how many did not, as the dead are finally gathered. Obviously losing property isn't the worst thing that can happen, but it is a huge pain in the ass. At least we have a house. It is unusable at the moment, but it's there waiting. Not everyone has something to go back to. I got an email from a member of my church group regarding her neighborhood:

My husband and I drove in yesterday since our neighbors got in touch with us. Our neighborhood took a beating. Our bottom floor was hit with water. The water mark is up to 14 ft. Everything downstairs is destroyed. Our roof has some leaks now and will need to have a temporary fix because it already leaks into the second story. The second story otherwise was fine.

Our neighborhood is filled with sludge, marsh grass and still a bit of water. We couldn't drive into our house but had to park a few blocks away and trudge through the muck. There were snakes everywhere. It doesn't look like our neighborhood will be up and running any time soon.

Spirits are holding up though. Thank goodness they evacuated. It's only stuff.

Another member of my church group sent this report after visiting Slidell today. She sounded very hopeful about all of it:

I was totally unprepared for the amount of damage that the city took. Our Sonic restaurant on Gause by the church is totally trashed every menu board is blown out. Some businesses looked great and others looked damaged. In general there are just trees everywhere and no power at our house either. we did have some neighbors living in thier houses. Dr. Fausts office is opened and they have the pets there. They are living there because their house was flooded. If you have pets there they are safe and they will be there when you can get back.

My over all impression of Slidell was one of survival. I spoke to neighbors that I have never spoken to. I saw so many people helping other people. I know I talk a lot about missing home in California but today I am proud to be from Slidell. Most of us will be back and we will be together again. I am thankful that our families are safe
and we are able to communicate with each other. We will get though this and we will be stronger for it.

Dr. Faust is the veterinarian who's office is located right behind my neighborhood. The Sonic is across the street. I'm so glad she wrote that last paragraph. Hang in there everyone.

Aerial Photographs of Slidell

Here is a link to military fly-over pictures of Slidell, New Orleans and surrounding areas showing the hurricane damage. It may take a while to find your house and not all of the pictures are oriented to the land, so look carefully to find yours.

I found my house and marked it with a yellow arrow. You can see the fences down everywhere and some of the neighboring houses missing a lot of shingles. Click the picture for a bigger version. Also, here is the photo of the whole neighborhood including Meadowlake and Breckenridge.
Here is the same picture of Meadowlake and Breckenridge at the military website in case you are able to get better resolution there. Like I said. Our neighborhood did really well considering what it was up against.

Here was the path of Katrina from the military page listed above, only I have marked the areas of Slidell and New Orleans so my friends can have a better idea of where we are:
To click the squares for close up aerial photos, use this link:http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/katrina/KATRINA0000.HTM
As you can see, the eye of the storm basically went just east of New Orleans and right over my house. We are amazed that our home held up so well. I thank God that this is one less thing we have to worry about now while we put our lives back together.

Yard of the Month

It's about 7:15 a.m. and they just arrived at the house and called me. It's hit or miss in our neighborhood and apparently we were missed! My next door neighbor's house (to our left) looks really bad and you can see right through the house, but ours is relatively untouched. I can't believe it. Apparently their house is one of the worst in the neighborhood and ours is one of the best, as are the neighbors to our right and across the street.

About 50% of the fence is down and about 10% of it is missing. The windows are not broken. The house is dry. There is a little bit of siding and a few shingles missing, and many of them ripped. They will have to cover it with a tarp or something. Small ripped pieces of shingles are all around the yard. The tree on the right side between our house and the other neighbor's is down (on the right side), but the root ball is still in tact and it might even be saved. It is actually not even our tree.

The shed in the side yard caved in, but is easily repairable (It's one of those big rubbermaid sheds). The lawnmower and most of the stuff is still in it. The kids' playhouse that was in the backyard is totally missing in action. They can't find it anywhere.

Inside the house looks just like we left it, but it smells like death from the rotting food in the fridge. They are not going to open it to empty it until they are done with everything else since it's already overpowering. It's hotter than hell inside with no ac. There is one small area in the roof of the attic that is open to the sky, and some insulation is blown around, but nothing major.

Apparently our house and the two across the street from ours are some of the relatively untouched homes in the area. Sis says we could easily move in and rough it without power or water if we really wanted to. There is a even a trickle of water moving through the lines so the toilets still work. Of course, we really need to wait until there are operating grocery stores and gas stations. (I am imagining what it smells like in the grocery store right now after a week with no power).

They could not find ANY gas south of Birmingham, Alabama (over 300 miles from Slidell). So living there is not really an option until there is fuel available in the area since we would have to drive a long way for food and bottled water.

Our neighbor to the left has a generator running and he is there to keep an eye on things while we wait for water, food, power, and gas to become available again. I have no idea how long that will take, but maybe it will bounce back quicker than we think.

Basically, we got incredibly lucky compared to most people in Slidell. In fact, this month could be our one and only chance to win that coveted "yard of the month" contest for the subdivision. ;-)

HUGE sigh of relief. At least we have a home that we can go back to, even if we can't live there for a while. My heart breaks for so many who don't.

Next on the "to-do" list is to get busy with the schooling and figure out the employment situation.

On The Way

This morning a care package arrived from Aunt Janette & Uncle Jason for the kids. Thank you so much! They were elated. Books, puzzles, crayons, markers, games, snacks. They finally have something new to do. Yippee! They say, Thanks AJ and UJ!!


We have heard from many people who have been back to their homes in Slidell. Some good news from a few folks, but mostly not so great. Everyone says to bring a lot of gas because there is no where to get any for a few hundred miles. So, we spent the afternoon trying to round up some gas cans in Nashville. Apparently the whole city sold out of them. We must have gone to 20 stores. We finally found two but it wasn't enough. At last hubby called a friend who has a big tractor and he had several that we borrowed.

My Dh (dear hubby), Sis, and her Dh are on their way to Slidell right now. It's almost 3 a.m. and I am doing an update for everyone so I have something to do besides worry. I'm sure they'll be fine though. Mostly I'm worried about what they are going to find when they get there. A big part of me wishes I was going there too so I could see it all for myself, but I think I did the wise thing to stay with the kids.

They will arrive at daybreak or later and plan to leave before dark. I hope they are able to call here when they arrive.

Stuff they brought with them: Gasoline, chain saw, lots of duct tape, food, water, first aid kit, three pairs of work gloves, two boxes of Hefty industrial garbage bags, tools, toilet paper, a change of clothing, flashlight, batteries, camera, and a list of things to get from the house if they are salvageable... oh, and Sis's shotgun, tazer and an array of other defensive cool stuff.

Sis put on extra deodorant right before they left and then advised the guys to "do the same" I don't know if they did or not. LOL. ;-)

Please pray that they will be safe on their journey. I'll post again as soon as I know anything.

Getting Ready to Survey the Damage

My next door neighbor from Slidell called me this morning. Her husband got there and said their house looks pretty good from the outside with just some siding missing. But inside, they obviously got a lot of water in the attic and the entire contents of the attic collapsed into the first floor of the house. Everything that was upstairs is now in the kitchen and dining room. She said that her husband told her that my house has a lot of siding missing, but she didn't elaborate. She told me to get my claim with State Farm started immediately.

I swear I must be living in some fantasy where I think we are going to go back with a hammer and some nails and put the shingles back on and never even need to file a claim.

We DO apparently have "loss of use" coverage for our home and State Farm is going to hand us a check as soon as I can get to an office that is open (probably Tuesday here in Tennessee), to cover the living expenses above our normal expenses and to cover temporary repairs. Yay!! I feel so much better now. They do encourage us to do temporary repairs to prevent further damage to our property if we can, but they want us to be careful if we do these repairs ourselves. My neighbor told us to bring some tarps to cover the holes in the walls and plenty of duct tape, nails and enough gas to get back out. We have to save all the reciepts, etc. and hire contractors if necessary, and to take a lot of pictures for our claim.


We'll know by tomorrow exactly what the damage is. Hubby is going to drive down tonight and arrive at daybreak, then hopefully get out of there before dark. Our next door neighbor did report that Slidell seems to be very safe from looting, etc. so that is probably not going to be an issue. My family is not happy with the idea of both of us going down and leaving the kids here, so I have taken their advice and have decided to stay in Nashville.

We have a huge list of stuff to bring down there to make temporary repairs including gas to get back out, duct tape, hammers, chainsaw, food, water, cameras, etc.)

We're headed out to the store right now to buy some of this stuff. It's great to be here in civilization where we can purchase what we need!

I really wish I could go with him and see the destruction and damage with my own eyes, but I'm sure it will still be there when I do get back in a couple of months. I really need to be here for my kiddos. No rush to see it I guess. Part of me is a little nervous now that he is going and we're going to be separated for a little while. I should have plenty of pictures to post when he gets back.

A Nice Diversion

An article in the Nashville paper today listed several of the attractions around town who have opened their doors to Katrina Refugees. So, hubby and I took the kids and spent three glorious hours in The Adventure Science Museum today. The kids were elated to have something fun and exciting to do. One of their favorite parts was called "Down the Hatch"

This series of interactive exhibits follow the path of food through your body from Feed Me, where you toss "food" into a giant mouth, then manipulate its course through the mouth into the esophagus, down to the stomach, and finally through the intestines and out the body. Take a ride down the colorectal slide!

Yes, they literally rode down a poop chute. What could be better than that?


The current thought of the day is that I am probably going to start homeschooling the kids myself starting next week. I'm going to go down to the school book depository in town to get some text books. I used to be a real live school teacher in my pre-child life, so I know I can do this. The idea of putting them in a strange school at the moment just seems like a lot more stress for the kids for no real benefit.

Besides, they are in accelerated classes and are already a grade level ahead of where they normally would be, so even if they missed an entire year of school, they would still not be behind. I just need to stop worrying so much. They do need to keep their skills up though. I talked with my good friend Jeannie today, who has home-schooled her kids for years, and have a good idea of what I need to do. I'll let you all know how it goes. If it turns out to be a really bad thing, we can always enroll in a regular school later. Please save all the, "I told you so's" if that happens. ;-)

We've started a big list of items to get from the house when we go back.

What To Do Next

We spent the morning trying to figure out what to do next. We do not know if Hubby got paid on Monday and cannot get any money out of our bank right now even if he did. Tulane has said it's closed for the rest of the semester (duh!). We don't know if they plan to continue paying the faculty. My web business still pays, but I can't get at that account either! And with the disaster, my website traffic came to a screeching halt. I'm sure it will pick up again in about a week though when people in the rest of the country are tired of watching the news (sad but true).

We do have credit cards and some cash though so we're not destitute. Some friends of mine wanted to help and are sending some gift cards to Walmart for groceries and school supplies.

We are trying to figure out what to do until we can return. We cannot go home for a long time. I really want to stay here with my Sis, but it's a little crowded and I hate putting her out like this. We have many other options (thank you family and friends!!). Having my sisters near me is very comforting and reasuring right now (my other sister is here too, she lives across town). I need my family around me. My sister's husband is the greatest putting up with all of us like this, especially with only one bathroom in the house. Best part about staying here is there is room for the dogs AND they have high speed internet access! YES! It's also not far from home.


My uncle reminded me today that "It's not the end of the world for you or the worst thing that could happen to you. Now, if you'd lost one of your children, THAT would be the worst thing." He is so right. Thanks for reminding me U.B. He understands that I occasionally some of that Irish family tendency to fly off the handle in a crisis. My family is the greatest one in the world though -- they always rally support for each other. The Greatest. I love you all.

We are still working on a plan to go back to Slidell on Sunday for a few hours to empty the freezer, the fridge, secure the house, survey the damage, tarp any roof leaks, and get what we need for the next couple of months. We have hardly anything with us, since we only packed for a three day trip! We are being allowed back in, but they do not want us to stay. I've heard from several people who have gone back so far.

At least we still have a home left to go back to. We are really lucky in that sense. Some parts of our little town were literally destroyed. Here is a a CBS news report on the devastation in Slidell. My insurance agent's house is featured in the video and he is being interviewed. The town looks pretty bad, but from all the emails I've been getting from some members of my church, the neighborhoods near mine are nothing like the devastation shown in this video.

I also got the following from one of the members of our homeowner's association today:

I was in Meadow Lake today. Mostly roof damage with siding missing from a few houses. Some houses show no damage. There is some running water but very little water pressure. I had to tarp holes in my roof where my ridge cap once called home. I lost all my back yard fence as did most houses. A few people rode out the storm and faired well but shaken. There are some families that are moving back into their houses and roughing it. No phone no lights very little water. I could have been much worse.

Another person wrote that people in some of the neighborhoods have put big signs on their houses that say, "Looters will be shot!". ....and I have no doubt that they really mean it!

Everything is going to be fine -- just slightly inconvenient for a while.

St. Tammany update

Update from St.Tammany Parish president for residents: Instructions for residents.

In a nutshell, they really don't want people to come back for a long time.

IF YOU HAVE EVACUATED ST. TAMMANY PARISH, DO NOT RETURN UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THE PARISH IS CLOSED. There are no utilities available. There is no gas available. Citizens returning early will only stress the very limited resources available at this time.

They also want people who stayed to please leave if they have reliable transportation. Then it says,

All St. Tammany Parish Public Schools are closed at least until Oct. 1.

Does this mean school will be open on that date? I seriously doubt it. But wouldn't that be awesome?

I called the number posted for citizens to get info. I was shocked that it worked, and expected a recording. A real person answered the phone! He asked us not to come back for a while. When I asked how long, he replied that there will be an update regarding the date and that it will probably be at least "four weeks". Then, I asked if there were police to protect our empty homes from looters during that time. He replied that at this time there has been no looting in St. Tammany, and only a couple of "attempts" and those people were now in custody. He said they were expecting some National Guardsmen on Friday to help out, just in case.

I cannot imagine what the stench will be like in my fridge and my upright freezer after 4 weeks of anarobic decomposition of the food it has in it.

Four weeks. Do you think I should call and stop my newspaper delivery?
(OK, please, allow me a little humor to diffuse the situation, ok?!)

Ramblings of a Refugee

I had another afternoon nervous breakdown today where I sobbed all over the phone -- this time to a friend instead of a relative. I tried to avoid it by staying away from the tv all day today because I just couldn't watch any more. However, I just couldn't help but click over for a quick peek while I was on the computer. I was secretly hoping that victims were finally getting help and things were improving. I was wrong.

It was too much to think about. I shut the door and cried as quietly as I could while the kids played in the other room. They are already upset enough. My 9 year-old daughter came to me late last night in tears and asked me, "What we will do if Daddy's job is gone forever and if he can't find another one ever?" I carefully reassured her that no matter what happens, our family will be fine, and we will always take care of her. I told her that it's her job to just be a kid and our job to worry about taking care of everyone. ....My poor poor baby. When I see them smiling and having fun, it's so easy to forget how much stress they also feel as a result of our displacement.

Later, we drove over to the home of my old college friend, Kathy, who happens to live here in Nashville. We had dinner with her and her two darling daughters and felt almost like normal people for a few hours. Kathy had a large tree down in her front yard that was a victim of Katrina when it rolled through Tennessee on Tuesday as a tropical storm (or whatever it was by that point). The tree was fairly large and was blocking the street. You can see what's left of it in the photo. Those are Kathy's kids in the background behind my three darlings, and our minivan in her driveway.

Kathy told us that she simply called the proper authorities the next day and they arrived in 40 minutes to remove most of it. City workers would only remove the part that blocked the street, so they left the rest. Still, I was impressed with what a civilized society can do. It may likely be the only tree down in the city, and there it was waiting for us to greet it. So there you have it folks: Storm damage as far north as Nashville, TN.


As relieved as I am to hear that our house is probably ok, I am dreading the trip back to Louisiana. With no water or power, we won't be staying long. Part of me still wants to be in denial over all of this. We may try to go this weekend sometime to secure the place and get some things we need for an "extended vacation". Do you think I should call and cancel our newspaper delivery?

My other sister is going to keep the kids at her apartment while we go, and she found a kennel that will take care of the dogs for a few days, no charge. I am very grateful to the Hillcrest Kennel for this offer.

Next time I evacuate, I will remember to bring the dog's shot records. A couple of places we tried wouldn't take them without proof of their current vacines. It's not like I can call the vet to get it. The only proof I have is my checkbook where I recorded the check I wrote to our vet this past June for their annual boosters.


Sometime soon we have to come up with our plan for what to do for the next couple of months. We need to decide where to hang out and put the kids in school. We have had numerous offers from many friends and relatives. We are forever grateful to all of you. One of you may be the lucky "winner" and have us messing up your bathroom for as long as it takes to get our home livable again. :-)

What's the Point?

Now that I am reasonably sure that our house has not been destroyed, the reality of our personal situation is starting to set in. Worrying about our house is pointless, but I need some place to call home.

The people still left in New Orleans are enduring uspeakable horror right now, that's for sure. But most of the people affected by this disaster are a lot like me -- regular people who had the means and the good sense to evacuate when we were told, and are now faced with the idea of going back and picking up the pieces of our lives. There are probably over a million refugees like myself spread all over the South mostly, who are counting on our friends and family to help us out until we can get back on our feet. It will be harder for some than others.

In case any of my friends and relatives didn't see it, CNN showed this blog on tv yesterday at about 3:10 Central Time. (Yes, I saw it with my own eyes! My sister's living room and front porch are now famous). CNN was talking about people who had evacuated and were worried that they had nothing to come back to. They also displayed a couple of the photos of the kids. It was quite a rush to see my own words on the screen on national television and to hear them use my name. I know CNN is reading this, so hey there CNN folks, would you mind sending a camera over to my house today to check it out just to make sure?

The more I learn, the more I think we got really lucky regarding the condition of our house compared to most people in the area, but unfortunately, the house itself is not a home. Our home is the whole community. So the house is probably fine, so what? What do we really have to go back to? The community is paralyzed by chaos and anarchy right now - at least it is over in the toxic wasteland where hubby works (worked). And even in sleepy little Slidell, we won't have school for the kids or a jobs for a long time. We're worried about the criminals too, and we may have to physically defend our homes against them. I'm actually glad that the bridge is out between Slidell and the big city. It will make it that much more difficult for them to get to us (not that we don't have criminals in Slidell, but it's a much different picture.)

Speaking of defending ourselves, my sister gave me and my husband a little gift this morning -- our own personal can of military strength tear gas. Wasn't that thoughtful of her?! We are one of the few families in Louisiana who don't own a gun (three small children in our house you know), so she got this for us to defend ourselves. I guess it's better than nothing. Our two silly dogs sure aren't going to defend us. I wonder if Sis would loan me her Rottweiler?

After seeing what is going on in the city regarding the rioting and looting (which hubby and I both predicted would happen long before the word "hurricane" was even mentioned), I am completely and utterly embarrased to call myself an American or even a human being right now. The death and destruction is even more sickening.

Hubby talked to a friend of a collegue night who is still in the city at Tulane's campus. He says that out the window in the Uptown area of town (the only part still on dry land), they can see gangs of looters going systematiclly from house to house and breaking in to steal things. Note to my friend Devra: you might want to let G know about this to prepare him for the possibility that his nice house in Uptown may be dry, but it's probably been looted by now.

I saw the following at Instapundit. It's an amazing first hand account from Bill Quigley, a law professor at Loyola who is in New Orleans now. He says:

"So it is really a disaster, and the people who aren't in New Orleans, I know, are dying to get back to their houses. But the people who are in New Orleans are, in all honesty, dying, and there could be a lot more casualties unless there's a lot of help real fast."

Even if my home turns out all right, the rest of the situation still looks bleak. It's frightening and discouraging to say the least.