So sore; so tired. 4 hours on the roof wrestling 400 sq foot tarpaulins. A slippery,powdery, crumbling asbestos tile roof.

Rita had to have torn up my pathetic temporary patches. Of course, no word from the roofer, so no chance that he had replaced them with real patches. & of course, the city is officially closed, so you can't apply for "Blue Roof" from FEMA, since the only way to apply is to appear in person at one of the 2 locations, both of which are inside New Orleans, which is officially closed. (Isn't that so FEMA?)

So, back to New Orleans, with Christopher & Bertrand this time, so they could provide support while I worked on the roof and clean out some of the tiles & tree limbs cluttering up the yard.

Fortunately, it didn't seem as bad as expected. The only area inside the house that took additional water was Christopher's room, where I hadn't been able to patch last time, anyway.

I added a tarp to cover the center of the house on the bedroom side, and covered the mismash of tarps on the other side with a single large tarp. In the process ripping off the damaged ridge vent and several vent pipes, allowing the tarps to lie flat. Although the south edge of the largest tarp over our closet & bathroom had pulled loose, I was able to nail it back down. Hopefully we are through with hurricanes in the New Orleans for the season & this time the tarps will last.


We also dumped some chlorine in the pool, which changed the water from black to a lighter shade of green. Still not swimmable, but an improvement.




The office is really in much worse shape than the house, thanks to the pecan tree. The trunk is now gone, allowing me to see what a total destruction job it did to my fence -- that is what a job the tree company did to the fence when they placed the trunk on top, after removing it from my office. The fence was undamaged two weeks ago while the tree was still in the building. And of course, laying it on the fence meant that they also crushed the hedge & the tree next to the fence, so they kindly removed them, too.

The trash visible right at the bottom of the picture is the gutter and downspout knocked off the side of the building when they dropped the tree trunk. Thanks, guys.


After getting the remaining tree limbs out of the yard & off the roof of the office we patched a 2 ft square hole in the office roof, and then replaced the patchwork tarp in the photo below with a single 20ft x 20ft tarp, which should keep any more water from entering the office. Sorry, no picture of the final product. Just too tired to even think of taking one.

I think I might take next weekend off & not go into the city. After all, I've got a lot more Rita cleanup to do in Zachary.

Zulu will roll

So I'm talking to Tyrone Mathieu last Monday. Tyrone, of course, is Mr. Big Stuff in the Krewe of Zulu, and on whose float I fully plan to ride next Mardi Gras. I told him that I was very upset that he missed the regular monthly meeting Friday night at the Zulu den. (Of course, I wasn't there either, but I didn't mention that.)

Well, it turns out he is in Houston. His house, being in the East, is a total loss, and he is living in an apartment. He said that many of the people in the krewe are of limited income, and losing their jobs will make it hard for them to ride next year.

No Way! If you're on the Zulu route Mardi Gras next year watch for us. We'll be there, with coconuts.

So here comes Tropical Storm Rita. Nagin has stopped the influx & warned all those already on the East Bank they may have to turn around & head back out. I sure hope Rita does what it’s forecast to do & head west to Texas. My roof patches won’t take much wind.

I’ve written so many emails to so many people since August 29^th that I can never remember what I’ve said to whom. So I’ve decided to start a blog. I’ll try to go back & fill in the entries I would have made if I’d thought of this earlier, but if I wait to get up-to-date before I start I’ll never get going. So here goes…

I went back into New Orleans today. My objectives were to clean out the fridge (scary thought), get another car-load of stuff from both the office and house, see if the temporary patches to the house roof were holding (after all, it was after curfew when we left last Sunday with visions of being shot by some 20-year-old National Guard kid from Michigan), see if the pecan tree that fell into my office had been removed from blocking the street, and if so, kludge together some temporary tarps to slow the ingress of rainwater to the building.

Overall, it was a successful day. I had no trouble getting into town. Funny, I came prepared to have to justify my presence to multiple people and agencies, but I didn’t meet a checkpoint all the way in. The station in Laplace was gone, so traffic on I-10 on the 13-mile bridge was much heavier that last week. I was a little surprised that there were no controls coming through Jefferson Parish, and really surprised when I drove unobstructed into Orleans on I-10. I took the Esplanade exit & just drove down Esplanade to N. Dupre, then 2 blocks to my house. Both sides of Esplanade were clear, with tree parts lining both sides of the street and the neutral ground. I could see several roofs covered with tarps, but no signs of anyone.

I went to the office first. I wanted to collect the business folders I needed first, in case someone came along and chased me out, and I wanted to see if the pecan tree was still in the roof. I walked upstairs and, Great! the tree is gone. Unfortunately I can now see the sky, but at least there’s no tree in the way. I walked back into the yard, then around the side of the building and got the bad news. After taking the tree out of the roof they dumped it on my fence, which had suffered no damage up to then. It’ll be fun trying to replace it. The fence posts, buried in concrete, are bent over right at the ground; they’ll have to be cut out of the ground. How do I replace them? The fence itself is a wreck. . Oh well, one more thing to do.

Entering the house, it was pleasant to see that the tropical fish were still alive. I think Bunny worries more about those silly fish than the mold marching across the closet ceiling. They were a little hungry, but didn’t seem any more so than they would be after not being fed for a day, rather than a week. I drained out a few gallons of water from the aquarium & refilled it with pure Kentwood Spring water. These critters better not get used to it, cause it won’t last once we get back.

After puttering around collecting most of the things on my list ( Damn! I forgot to get the showerhead. The one in our Zachary bathroom dribbles instead of flows.) I drained the water from the washing machine, and then finally worked up the courage to tackle the fridge.

I’d read emails about the horrors of opening the refrigerator door. I collected the trashcan, double-lined with heavy duty plastic bags, put on my gloves, took a deep breath, and jerked open the door. Anticlimax. It didn’t even smell that bad. The only mold I found was on the open dog food can. Even the cheese drawer wasn’t bad.

Having filled one trashcan I got the other, and encouraged by the fridge, pulled open the freezer. This was a little worse, but still not a problem. The only Yechh was that Bunny had bought some individual serving ice cream cups, and they had largely lost their contents to the bottom of the freezer.

Still, it cleaned up, and after washing it down with vinegar & water it was almost fresh. I left the doors open & headed to the last challenge – trying to cover the hole in the office roof.

The larger tree limbs left on the roof are going to have to wait for a chain saw.

After throwing the smaller branches to the ground. I was able to cobble 2 tarps together to more-or-less cover the opening. It won’t really keep all the rain out, and if the wind blows too hard it may all come apart, but it was the best I could do with what I had. I don’t really know why I’m that concerned, since the damage inside is pretty-well complete, anyway.

I chatted with Ben & Gene, the two old oddballs who live down the street & never left. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t think to bring them any ice. I promised to bring some next time, and as I was leaving I saw someone drive up & give them what was left from their ice chest.

On the way out I went to a friend’s apartment to recover some pictures she wanted. It was near Carrolton & Bienville, where the water was about 5 feet deep at the worst. Her apartment was fine – it was on the second floor – but her car was a total loss. The water line was above the bottom of the windows.

Driving out of town, I passed a major checkpoint set up inbound between Causeway & Bonnabel. I wonder why that wasn’t there earlier. I guess it was just one more case of missed communications.

I’d settled down to the boring drive back to Zachary when I climbed on the elevated 13 mile bridge in Kenner and traffic suddenly stopped. 2 lanes. Bumper to bumper. 5 to10 mph for 8 miles, til we finally passed the accident which was at last pulled over to the side. It felt like evacuation all over again.

I was instant messaging with Laura this morning before she went to class & she seemed pretty glum. I realized that emotionally she is still where I was back almost 2 weeks ago. I think it really helps to be here & see the changes day-by-day. When she left for college the news coming out of New Orleans couldn't have been much worse. Day-by-day things are getting better.

I’m optimistic at the moment that we can pull this thing off. That we can make New Orleans a better city than it was, with more opportunity for it’s citizens, without turning it into Atlanta.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if no one were allowed to build a slab house in the city ever again? Raised houses would ensure us against the next flood, and even provide that offstreet parking everyone lusts after in our crowded city with its narrow streets, as well as being a more authentic New Orleans design.

Good things can come out of this sadness and loss. We have to take advantage of this opportunity.

Well, I guess we’re in the big time now. We have our city house & our country house. We went to act of sale today to buy Bob & Karen’s house. They’ve moved to their place in Clinton and are busy building an addition to add a couple of bedrooms.

Bob insists that it worked out best for all concerned, since they didn’t have to do the little fix-up jobs they had planned to do before selling and they didn’t have to store any of their furniture that doesn’t fit in the Clinton house, but I must exclaim over our incredible good fortune and their kindness. We’re using a whole houseful of furniture we didn't have to buy or rent.

Back to New Orleans.

We've been very lucky that there's been no rain since Katrina, but that can't last. I had to get the roof of the house closed up to stop the damage from getting worse. Yesterday I didn't dare work on the roof alone, but today I brought a friend in to help. I figured if I fell to the ground he could pick me up & drive me to the hospital, some hospital, somewhere.


Obviously the worst wind was from the north. That damn pecan tree fell SouthEast to crush my office roof, and the shingles were ripped from the north end of the house.

Before setting to work on the roof we filled the car with another load, then got out the ladders. Of course, it took longer than we thought in would, but finally, about 6:40 pm, we were finished. It doesn't look great, and if there's any significant wind it might come right off, but it should keep normal rain out of the house for the time being.

Back down Esplanade to Claiborne. This time it looked like we might be able to go down to Orleans & get on the correct side of I-10, but it was getting dark, and it was already past curfew, and I wasn't at all happy about being out.

Back up the downramp, westbound on the eastbound lanes, off the onramp from Claiborne, on the offramp from the CCC, and over the bridge going the wrong way. I may never be able to drive legally again.

I've seen New Orleans.

Armed with a pass to collect equipment needed for service work at one of our industrial clients I went into New Orleans Saturday morning to check out the scene and recover as much as I could from the office.

I came down I-10, across the Crescent City Connection to I-10 eastbound & took the Esplanade exit. Only the riverbound lanes had been cleared of trees, so I drove the wrong way down the street to N.White, then the wrong way up N. White to Grand Rte St John, then into the driveway.

No water visible anywhere. There had been some little street flooding, and the water got partway up the driveway, but nowhere near the house or office. There's an advantage to living on the Esplanade Ridge.

Wherever the water got onto the grass it is brown & lifeless. That stuff must have been nasty. Now there is just sun-dried mud in the street. It doesn't even smell bad. The water must have gone down as fast as it came up.

Iwas in front of the house taking some pictures when I heard someone call out, asking who was there. Ben & Gene, two old guys from down the street walked up and asked if I had any food. They never left. I gave them all the canned goods from the cupboard in the kitchen and 2 cases of 12 oz water bottles the Kentwood guy had delivered with our order the week before Katrina hit.

When I walked into the house I saw some signs of water damage to the kitchen ceiling. Several small stains in the other rooms had become larger, and more plaster had fallen from the hole in our bedroom. Then I heard water running. The washer was overflowing and sending a slow trickle of water onto the wooden floor in the back hall. Interesting, since the power and the water were both off. I stopped the flow by turning off the faucets, but left the tub full.

There had been significant water in the closet ceiling, and mold was growing there. I didn't have any way to deal with that, so I left it for another day.

Bunny's fish were happy to see me. They all looked fine, and hungry. The automatic feeder hadn't worked, so I changed out some water, replacing it with Kenwood from one of the 5 gallon bottles.

All things considered, it didn't look too bad.


Then I walked around to see if the pecan tree had done as much damage to the office as it looked from the satellite photos. Well, it was worse. When I entered the building & walked upstairs I couldn't walk toward the back street at all, because the room was full of tree. Downstairs there was fallen ceiling and soaking carpet. I grabbed what I could from the main office, but everything was still wet. When I picked up the calculator from the receptionist's desk water poured out all over me.

By the time I filled up the car with the most important items from my lists and fetched the 2 cats from my neighbor's house I was whipped.

Down Esplanade, on the right side now, and back to Claiborne. There was no way onto the elevated I-10 except to drive up the Esplanade downramp and go West on the Eastbound lane. Over the Crescent City Connection the wrong way, and out of town homeward bound.

Well, we're definately digging in for a while. It doesn't look like we'll be living in New Orleans any time soon, so we're making arrangements to stay in Zachary.

Bob & Karen were already planning to sell their Zachary house & move to Clinton while building a new house. Their Clinton house was already furnished and they had been splitting their time, spending most of the the week in Clinton where their kids attend school, and the weekends in Zachary. They offered to sell us the Zachary house, even letting us use most of the furniture that is still in it while they build the new house. Meanwhile, real estate agents have been ringing the phone off the hook asking for permission to list it. I've heard that people are buying houses just from what they can see through the windows.

We went into Baton Rouge to look at houses there for comparison sake, and quickly called Bob back & accepted his offer. Though I'm definately a city boy at heart, the city is not Baton Rouge. It was all suburb. The house we looked at was circa 1960. Small rooms, low ceilings.

We enrolled Christopher & Trisha in Runnels School in Baton Rouge. It is a small (though somewhat larger now!) private academic & fine arts school. We were quite impressed with everyone we met there and are relieved to have found such a good situation for them both. Christopher will be with some classmates from Ben Franklin High, including his closest friend, Bertrand. Bertrand & Nancy, his mom, are living with us in Zachary while she works trying to reconstruct Kirschman Furniture's IT system.

Trisha met one of her classmates during registration at Runnels, so she will have at least one person she knows in her classes.

The only down side is that it is about 25 miles away, on the opposite side of Baton Rouge from Zachary. And did I mention the traffic? News reports have said that there are 250,000 new residents of Baton Rouge, and though I don't think it can be that many, there are probably at least half that, and it seems like we are all driving our cars all the time.

At least Bertrand has his drivers license, so if his dad, working in New Orleans, can get their other car out of the city Bertrand can drive them all to school.

So many kind people have been sending emails asking how we've fared that I'm writing this. I hope to have time to compose individual replies later, but now we are very busy trying to reorganize our lives.

We made preparations for evacuation Saturday and left New Orleans Sunday morning. The company has an office in Zachary, and our VP lives here. Bob and his wonderful wife, Karen, as they had done 2 years ago when we fled Hurricane Ivan, kindly invited us stay with them instead of camping in the office as I had planned. Laura had already taken one of the cars Saturday night, loaded with the stuff she needed to go to college with Sept 5 in case she couldn't get back to the city, and gone to Baton Rouge to stay with a friend at her apartment near LSU.

Our departure was delayed until 10:30 am because we finally convinced my mother-in-law to come with us and had to drive across town to pick her up. We left in 2 loaded cars, one pulling a trailer loaded with more stuff -- including a 5500 watt generator -- and headed East towards Slidell, then planning to loop around and go North, then West to get to Zachary, which is just south of St. Francisville. The news said that I-10 West was at a standstill, but it was easy to go East. To make a very long story much shorter -- everyone else must have heard that report, too. It took us 7 hours to make a 1.5 hour trip.

We moved in on Bob & Karen Sunday and have no idea when we will be able to move out. Housing in or near Baton Rouge is impossible to find now, with the influx of refugees. We are looking into schools for the kids, and plan to settle in this area until it becomes clear what will happen to New Orleans. Certainly it will be several months, at least. As I write this it
is impossible to know if we will ever "Call New Orleans home" again.

Laura has been volunteering at a refugee screening center in Baton Rouge, partly, she said, to tear herself away from obsessively watching the news from New Orleans on tv. She met us for dinner and told stories of woe that brought tears to all our eyes. One woman had burns all over her body. She had tried to get out of a flooding house and grabbed the only thing she could to keep from sinking. It was a live downed power line. She was taken to the hospital and treated, then sent on to the shelter, since the hospital didn't have space for her. This was just one story of many.

After dinner, when she went back to the apartment with her friend and we came back to Zachary, I had to give Trisha a major hug before I could go to bed.

We are so much luckier than hundreds of thousands of others! Our whole family is safe. We have a place to live. We will continue to have an income. Don't worry about us, but please do what you can to help the Red Cross and other aid organizations.