Blow Out

Hubby ran in the Crescent City Classic 10k race on Saturday. I went down to City Park in New Orleans to see if I could watch him cross the finish line. I never did find him in the crowd, but it was fun to watch all the folks in this race that is traditionally run on Easter weekend. Many of them ran with bunny ears on their heads, and all the politicians running for mayor were out in full force.

I parked in the Lakeview neighborhood near City Park so I could walk over to the stadium. Only a few months ago, all of it was under water. Most of the houses were empty. Almost all of them had been gutted already, and the majority of the debris picked up, but there was still plenty left. The watermarks still stained the buildings (you can see it in the picture here), weeds were growing 2 feet high, windows were broken, and everything made of metal was rusting. Flooded out cars sat decaying in driveways. I could distinctly smell mold all around.

Despite the obvious disaster, there were quite a few people living in primitive conditions in the neighborhood and plenty of folks living in travel trailers in the driveways while they rebuilt their homes.

I took this picture because I was happy to see the little island of hope that someone had planted in the street median --- new flowers and landscaping... something pretty amid all the watermarks, trash and decay.

Anyway, I had a bad feeling driving in this area, and sure enough I picked up a nail in my tire. I decided that since it wasn't losing any air, that I would keep going and change it at home. Big mistake. As I crossed the Industrial Canal on I-10 over what is locally known as the "Highrise" bridge, the tire blew out.

A worse place for a blowout does not exist. There is ZERO shoulder on that bridge and it's a looong way down to the water, and a long way down the the other side of the bridge to get off. Black smoke started to come from the tire and I struggled to keep control as I slowed way down, turned on my hazard lights and prayed that no one would slam into the back of me as they came careening over the crest of the bridge while I was wobbling down the other side on my wheel rim. A man in a white car saw what happened and pulled over at the bottom of the bridge to wait for me.

I made it to the bottom and was able to pull out of the traffic. You don't really realize how fast 60mph really is until you are standing 3 feet from a thousand cars, semi-trucks and city busses whizzing by at that speed. The kind stranger helped me change the tire and I was on my way home in no time.

::deep breath::

Happy Easter

Free Cycle

I've been giving away some kids' clothing and toys and equipment through a group called a "free cycle" group. People post stuff online that they want to give away, and people who need it come take it. It has to be completely free. It's a great way to recycle things that would otherwise be thrown away. There are groups all over the country. The one I belong to is for my area. I've had friends ask about it, so here it is: Northshore Freecycle/FreeUse group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NorthShoreFreeUse/

Find recycle groups in your area at Freeuse.org or freecycle.org.


On another topic, someone was found murdered yesterday right around the corner from our neighborhood. Not much detail in the newspaper report, but I saw all the commotion last night when I was on my way to the grocery store. The whole area was roped off, and the crime lab truck was there along with 6 sheriff patrol cars. Hopefully there will be more info in tomorrow's paper. I drive by this house almost every day on my way out of the neighborhood. Ugh.

Disturbingly Familiar

We took the kids to a movie at the Slidell Movies 8 which finally reopened a couple of weeks ago. Some of the screening rooms were still under repair, but there was new carpet everywhere and it did not smell moldy in the least. I do wish they had taken the opportunity to redesign the door to the big screening room so that the sunlight didn't shine in onto the screen every time someone went in or out.

Anyway, the movie we saw was funny, yet rather disturbing at the same time. See if any of this sounds familiar to you:

A bunch of the film's characters are initially in denial about the prediction that the huge dam/levee is going to break. They finally see for themselves that it is indeed going to happen and there is nothing they can do, but warn everyone to get out of the way. They have 3 days to evacuate the entire area. One character remarks about the valley that will soon fill up with water, "Don't you realize we're in a bowl?" (I can't tell you how many times New Orleans has been described as a bowl). Another group of characters tries to get their Grampa to evacuate with them but he resists saying, "I was born in this hole, and I'm gonna die in this hole!" (I've definitely heard that before!). A massive evacuation takes place at a little more than a snail's pace. Toward the end of the film one of the main characters is trapped inside while the water is quickly rising (where is her ax to chop her way out?). Eventually she is rescued as the water rises all around and characters are plucked to safety. About the only thing missing was looting.

It could almost have been a movie about You-Know-What, except that the movie we saw was a nice kids' movie called Ice Age 2.

Don't get me wrong, it was still very cute, as long as you could block out that whole deja vu thing while watching it. My kids remarked about its simliarity to recent events almost immediately as we started on our way home. I'm pretty sure I actually heard a few groans in the theater as the plot was revealed in the first few minutes of the film regarding the weak levee and imminent flood.

Obiwan Has Taught Them Well

Late last night I wrote that I was a little dissapointed that my kids didn't prank us this year, and mostly I had myself to blame for not pulling one on them. Apparently I wrote too soon. When I logged off and went to bed just prior to midnight, we pulled back the sheets to discover that our bed had been lined with tons of cat food nuggets and a big note that read,

"April Fool ! from your kids - all of them"

Not only did they get us good, they didn't even spoil the prank by blabbing it prematurely. They just let it play it's course, and caught us completely off guard. Indeed, I am very proud of my young padawans. ;-)

Lost and Found

In the chaos following Mardi Gras at my house when the carpet installers showed up to replace our carpet, my friend Devra's jewelry was moved and her beloved necklace charm was lost. Today it was found by my youngest daughter - over a month after it first went missing. I still can't explain how it showed up, but I think it was trapped in a pile of my daughter's dolls and purses hanging on a tiny kid-sized chair.


This morning I had the weirdest experience in the Red Cross CPR class I had to take in order to run my Girl Scout troops. One of the women in the class would not SHUT UP. The instructor finally told her to be quiet and let him teach, and stop asking so many stupid questions. Later she got completely hostile when another person in the class tried to help her understand, and there was almost an altercation. Then during our break, the Red Cross volunteer CPR instructor began ranting and ranting about how horrible the New Orleans chapter of Red Cross is, and how they should have their charter pulled. Pretty soon everyone in the room had to share their opinions about what is wrong with the levees.

Then I drove home past all the apartment buildings with escape holes chopped through the attic and with the roof still bearing with the word "HELP" in large lettering. I watched for alligators on the freeway where the buzzards were circling above (a common sight even in pre-katrina).

And when I arrived home after lunch, I was on guard in case my kids had plotted an April Fool's prank for me while I was gone. I got them really good a couple of years ago when they got up for school on April Fool's Day to discover that I switched all their underwear in each other's dresser drawers. Now I have to watch my back. They played a few pranks on each other, but it's nearly Midnight and nothing happened to me yet, so I think I'm off the hook. I should have tried to get them again this year.

Maybe I have lost my sense of humor. Perhaps it will turn up just like the missing bee charm, and the re-opened movie theater. Note to self: Think of a fun prank to play on my kids next year!