And the walls come tumbling down....

Well, the work on the house is set to start this week. Thursday, two guys came by and finished taking out the wall in back of the house that's been leaning, removed the roof that had fallen in the back two rooms, and tore down the part of roof still up -- but sagging. It sounded horrible. I think I may have some sort of complex now because whenever I hear wind or loud noises I look up at the roof of my house and wonder if it's going to fall on me. Bad not to trust your house to protect you. Note to self: get over it.


So....with the back wall of the house finally all the way down, J. and I could get inside and finish pulling out and inventorying all the moldy, mildewy, smelly crap stuff. That's how we spent our weekend. A-l-l weekend. I also raked piles of leaves and limbs and branches that Ike left behind. You see, we just had time to somewhat clean up after Gustav when Ike visited and blew down anything Gustav had loosened and left behind. It looks somewhat better but it's going to be awhile before things are normal again.

On an up note, both my teams won this weekend. Roll Tide! Geaux LSU! Son #3 called, thrilled to tell me the new AP poll was out and BAMA's #2 and LSU's #3. Amazing. Lots of football left to play, but it's all good at this moment.

I guess I'll go to bed now because I'll probably wake up with the chickens until I find out the workers' schedule. Do workers have schedules?

It's true....

no need denying it, I am a control freak. The living spaces in the parts of the house that are still standing are getting less and less because we're filling it with stuff from the ruined part of the house. I thought about renting a Pod or storage space but that's money that could go for something else. So, everything's being squeezed wherever we can make room.

While this is happening, I find myself repeatedly dusting and vacuuming any open surface or floorspace left. Counterproductive I know, but...knowing doesn't stop me. It's like I don't know when to stop. I guess I'm fighting for normal in an abnormal situation. Silly, huh?

There are some good things happening. I think we have a contractor picked out. We met with him again last night and I think everyone understood and agreed on what was to be done. If things work out, my understanding is that work will start next week. Yipee! (I guess.) Something he said bothered me tho. He told us that the wall we're taking out probably saved the structure from falling in when the tree hit. (By structure does he mean the house?)

I told him if removing the wall would make the house structurally unsound then....forget it. But he said it wasn't a problem and that, anyway, the tree that could fall on it was gone now. Hummmm....

A poetry interlude....

Knowing that J was in Michigan, a special friend stopped by -- just to help. He came bearing Krispy Kreme and CC's coffee. After a couple hours of (him) moving stuff from the destroyed rooms into the rest of the house as I packed boxes and plastic crates full of more stuff to be stacked wherever we can find space through out the house, he grabbed the Sunday papers that were still rolled up inside their plastic bag homes and ushered me out the door.

We spent a long afternoon at la Madeleine reading the Sunday papers while chowing down on French Dip, Chicken Salade Croissant, Tomato Basil soup, yummy cookies, and a couple glasses of wine. One article we came across seemed particularly fitting. Andrei Codrescu (an LSU English professor) has a new book out along with a CD of "Storm Songs" with readings by various people accompanied by the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars. The book came out around the first of September to coincide with the third anniversary of Katrina. Little did anyone realize that Gustav would be bearing down on us -- actually, beating us up at that time.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the book. I've ordered mine from Amazon.

New Orleans after the storm:


"under the silver moonlight
fridges line the street
far as the eye can see
they are still full of meat
more toxic than you and me
dick cheney inside
and president bush too
and that FEMA guy too
tape them doors shut
so they won't come after us..."


Here's one about pet owners who couldn't take their animals with them off the rooftops:

"...lord oh lord why don't we have an ark
that's the helicopters leaving
that's the nation to the rescue
leaving us here in the dark"

"the coffee house philosophers" tells how New Orleans is coming back. middle-class New Orleans residents sitting around coffee houses after the storm "telling our stories over 'n' over/like crickets in the summer grass..."

"...only the very rich and their servants will remain
when we flee your storm-tossed shores new orleans
you have lost your middle class
woe is unto you city of under-upper class
you played at feudal pageants and we laughed
but now you are feudal and we cry"

And, as the last line of the article I quote from said, "And that is more truth than poetry...


Since I'm liberally quoting from Sunday's Advocate, I'll close with this line from Ed Cullen's column: "Homeland Security, which sounds more like Germany in the 1940s than an American department of government, and Homeland Security’s demon spawn, FEMA, are too big and not readily accountable."

Demon spawn -- amen.

I burned toast this morning....

and I mean I burned it badly -- the smoke detector went off and I had to open the front door to let some of the smoke out. I can't remember the last time I did something like that. (At least it covered up some of the mildewy smell -- for a while.)

See the tree that's lying in the street? That's one of the ones that fell on our house. Big tree. I hope they pick it up soon. They say that the amount of debris they've picked up so far would fill Tiger Stadium -- up to the highest seats. And yet there's still more -- lots more. On the way to get my hair done this morning a light was out on Sherwood. At least there was a policeman directing traffic. For some reason red lights were out again today in my part of town. I don't pity the Houston area. It's a mess getting banks and stores back open -- not to mention service stations. Power's necessary for most of those places to do business and when they can't open for days, your supply of food and money dwindles and it wears on the mind. Days run together and you find yourself mixing up tenses in your sentences. At least everyone understands. Now, if I can just find someone to fix the back of my house! I hate having it open to the elements....and the mold and mildew.

On top of all this bullsh*t, I heard something this morning that makes me almost want to give up. Our city's school system is in crisis -- that's not a surprise, it's what they want to do about it that's stunning. The state's ready to take over many individual schools because of declining test scores. So....here's the plan. In order to make it appear that schools have improved (rather than declined) their test scores, they want to be allowed to use the test scores of students who should be attending those schools but are instead attending magnet schools. You know -- those are (in general) the students whose parents insist they do their homework, whose parents are involved, and whose parents set (and pattern) standards.

*I know what I just said is a generalization and not a universal truth but, all the same, I think it's a big part of the problem.

Wouldn't that (using test scores of students who don't attend that school) be lying? Wouldn't it mislead parents who look at those test scores as an indicator of whether to let their child attend that school or not? What good could it possibly do? It may be the most ridiculous thing I've heard since the no-child-left-behind fairy tale.

Anywho....it's been a sh*ty day so far. One bright spot was going to the beauty salon. Then it was back to meet with another contractor. Another contractor who doesn't know when he'll be able to get to us and when he'll be able to find enough people to do the jobs he had lined up. C'est la vie -- I guess.

No sour grapes, but....all the same..

there's more to this state than New Orleans. New Orleans didn't flood during or after Gustav -- and thank the good lord for that, but...


Click here to see my city in the dark after Gustav.

And, again, I say (this time from first-hand experience), FEMA cannot get the job done. The only functioning body was the military. And Target. Thank God for Target.

Again I find myself thinking about that saying:

You can never go home again.


We are now true south Louisianians -- Blue Roofers.


Below are a couple of looks you can acheive with the infamous blue tarps. The first picture is of our tarp after Gustav. The last one is of what's left of the tarp as Ike grazed us. It's almost mesmerizing to see how it billows in the wind -- sort of like a ship's sails. (but, believe me, it's a whole other thing to be inside hearing it flapping around in the wind. really, really, really grates on the nerves.) I have several inbetween looks we fashioned, but -- I won't belabor the point (anymore than I already have).

Since the back and one side of our rooms are leaning, we had to cover the sides of the house in addition to the roof.










Today's a different day. I slept the entire night (could it have been the new 8 hour Tylenol I tried?), or maybe it was the absence of wind and tarp flappin'. Two more contractors coming today. Two bids in and it's looking like we can do what we want to in rebuilding the two rooms -- well, pretty much what we want to. Did I mention that our insurance adjuster is a country and western singer from Austin? ....More on that later.


The longer we stay here -- in the swamps, the more connected to this city and this land we become. And for the life of me I can't figure out why. Two of our children were born here but that didn't connect us. Yet hardships like getting degrees from LSU Katrina and now this storm seem to cause roots to grow. I don't know if I like that. I'd rather run from this place as I (hope) I would from an abusive lover. Why stick around for more abuse? That's the question I'll be asking myself today as we inventory our losses -- and deal with more contractors.

UNCLE.

Just. Freakin'. Uncle.

I was awakened at 6:34 am with wind and rain gusts that sounded as if they were about to blow in my bedroom window. (My bedroom's on the back end of the house. The back half that's still standing and has a roof over it.) My first thought was "Shit!" The storm's turned and it's HERE!"

By the time I threw on some clothes (when a storm's going to hit in the middle of the night I usually sleep with regular clothes on -- makes running for you life easier, but this storm was going to be a TX storm. Right?) Anywho, I threw on some clothes and ran to the tv. I soon figured out that Ike was still headed to TX and we were just getting the first of those rain and wind bands. We're on the wrong side of this storm. Again.

As I was figuring out that Ike was still going to TX I heard the water dripping into the ruined rooms. The wind had torn the tarp in two. Even with all that happening my only thought was to turn on the coffee maker before power went out -- again. But, I didn't. I collapsed onto the sofa wondering if I should wake up J so he could try and save the tarp before the next band arrived in 45 minutes or so. Before I could decide the power went out. Again.

J woke up and said he needed a cup of coffee before he tried to do anything with the tarp. What I responed is not fit for print. For the next however long, J was outside saving what was left of the tarp and I moved more stuff from the ruined rooms inside. We spent the next ten hours waiting for the power to come back on and holding our breath as winds had the tarp billowing like sails on a boat.

The winds are still gusting 30+ mph but should die down by tomorrow evening. The rains come in bands. For a TX storm Ike sure as hell is covering the entire state of Louisiana. UNCLE!

And God said....

"You thought you were through dealing with repairmen? Oh, my dear, that was nothing more than a dress rehersal before the real event."


The huge oak tree that moved into my house wouldn't pay rent so we had to remove it, and now I'm dealing with contractors so we can get the back of the house rebuilt. All things considered, we're blessed. The kitchen, family room, living room, dining room, bedrooms and bathrooms are untouched and liveable. It's only when you walk to the rooms in back of the house that you start smelling the damp and notice the water stained ceiling and walls, the soggy carpet, and the sunlight shining through where the walls are no longer attached to the ceiling. Then...when you open the door to the storage room, you notice you're -- outside. No roof and the back wall of the house is leaning and only attached to the house on one end.

So. The back of my house is now opened up to that view of the lake I have always wanted. Word of caution. Be careful what you wish for.

Yep. If we can afford the ungodly deductible on our insurance we may be able to make the entire house livable once again. The new insurance deductibles have stunned everyone I know. It seems that in one of those form letters insurance companies are so fond of sending out -- you know the ones. The ones you never take the time to read. Well, one of those informed us that our deductible was now 6% of the value of our home. How did that happen?

Oh. And if the monster now in the Gulf known as Ike comes our way and does more damage, there's another deductible. Right now I don't give a crap. Tomorrow I probably will, but right now I just want to get some sleep so I can face the contractors J's sending my way. I wish I could pay someone to knock me out for eight hours.

There is a huge tree sitting in my house....

and, I'm sitting at the computer (obviously with power) typing away while daylight shines through the roof a few feet away. Odd. Very, very, odd.

The tree is laying in the storage room which is in back of the house.

The worse weather is about to hit. Hopefully it'll be better by 7 pm. But the rains aren't going away. I think that remodeling job I've been thinking about is going to happen.

Rockin' & Rollin'

Still here. Amazingly the power's still on -- flickerng, but on. I was able to make a pot of coffee. :) :)

Wind's blowing outside. Power outages all around. The bad winds should start in an hour or two, then the worse wind will arrive this afternoon. Then....rain, rain, and more rain.

The good news -- sustained hurricane force winds shouldn't be a problem. The not so good news -- lots of rain. And then there's the New Orlean's levees. Don't let anyone tell you they are ready. And then there's MRGO (Mr. Go). Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

So, we should make it through, but please keep Acadiana in your thoughts and prayers.

Today the winds. Tomorrow the rain.