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.