Home Sweet Home

We're home, and no worse for the wear.

We left Jackson about 11 am, road the back highways, crossed the Causeway with a handful of other cars, and made it home by 2 pm.

The wedding albums are back on the shelf, the Saints flag is flying, and Charlie is out cleaning the yard.

We have power. A few neighbors are out and about.

Later we'll go for a walk with the dogs and get back to our routine. Hoping to see the bakery or diner down Magazine Street open in the morning.

**This post made courtesy of Lee's Verizon card. We have no internet and no telling when it'll be back on. I'll post and email as able.

Perched

We have relocated to Jackson, Mississippi for the evening. Jefferson Parish reopens to citizens tomorrow, but the word is Orleans won't open until Thursday. Regardless, I think the plan is to make it home tomorrow.

We're not sure what the status of our power. Hoping for the best and we're going to press on tomorrow.

I sure hope Geraldo Rivera is out of our city and off the news.

Gustav gone

We're still waiting, but planning our return, with the assumption that we've dodged the bullet in New Orleans, and restricted entry and curfew will be lifted in the next day or so.

Of course, the assumption is that everyone else has a similar plan, on a similar time frame, anxious to see their home. We'll be prepared to sit in traffic, but hopefully plan a route that doesn't intersect Gustav's northwest path.

Hoping by this afternoon we'll know if levees contained the storm surge, determine if there's power in our neighborhood, and get moving on our plan to return home.

Travel Companions

The pooches were thankful to be invited into the car on Friday after we were all loaded up. They never like to see the suitcases come out, and I think they sensed our anxiousness.

Batture breathed down my neck for almost the entire 11 hour drive, and Muppet snuggled with his baby and snored.


Here they are nervous, pacing at night, and hesitant to let us out of sight. They miss their routine as much as we do.

Deja vu?

August 29th should have been a day to share a poboy from Domilise's and a Miller High Life (or a Barq's root beer). 3 years past Katrina. 3 years and we've settled back into a normal NOLA routine. Instead we spent the afternoon driving away, with our dogs and wedding albums in tow.

The house is secure. The porch swing has been taken down, the ferns in hanging baskets are tucked in the shed, and the Saints' and city flag lie in the foyer. I couldn't bring myself to toss the stash of steaks in the freezer, so they're tied up tightly in a garbage sack in the freezer for easy disposal, just in case. Charlie still hasn't recovered from pushing the rotten Fridgidaire out of the Jena house three years ago. I left our neighbors a note, scribbled down some phone numbers, and off we went.

Northwest was kind enough to provide a full credit voucher since we decided to skip our flights, and drive with our pets, to Oklahoma for the three day weekend. I'm thankful for their kindness, but it made me a little nervous.... this must be serious for the airlines to be so generous.

Leaving I felt worry over our home. We're in the highest area of the city now, so I don't fear floods, but looters. 8 feet of flood water on our 1st floor pretty much guaranteed no looters last time around. But it's only stuff. Everything can be replaced.

Driving on I-49 we passed caravans of school buses on their way to New Orleans. They'll be ready and waiting for a mass exodus. There were also caravans of National Guardsmen who will patrol the city, keep her and our homes safe. For an instant I felt better and then thought back to the day we spent, 2 weeks post flood, driving through the city in an attempt to get to our home which still sat submerged in water. The few people we saw rode in humvees, carried semiautomatic weapons, and wore camouflage. They weren't smiling and wanted us out of their way. Above helicopters hovered low with military and media hanging out opened hatches. Volunteers manned airboats making their way through our neighborhood streets searching for those left in the sun on their rooftops. I didn't feel safe.

I feel little comfort from the newer projected paths pushing Gustav westward. We're not out of danger yet. Newscasts here in OKC have images of traffic picking up on the highway out of New Orleans. My inbox is filled with memos from work with instructions for next week...be safe, take care of your family, be in close contact.

We are together and we are safe, but I am teary. The hormones probably don't help, but I really fear loss for our city and our life there. We want coffee and bagels next Saturday at the Laurel Street Bakery. We want to kick off the "r months" (oyster season) at Casamento's with oyster loaf and chat with the shuckers at the oyster bar. We want bloody marys (mine virgin of course) for breakfast on our porch when the fall weather comes midOctober.

It's going to be a long few days for us.

Katrina's Brother?

As Katrina's 3rd anniversary approaches, Gustav is getting all the attention. Katrina. Gustav. There's definitely a family resemblance.

We've got plans to be out of town for the three day weekend, but now we are trying to come up with Plans B, C, and D.

Today I will contact the dog sitter to find out her plans and arrange for Plan B involving a drive back in a rental car for dog pick up if we do indeed end up heading to Oklahoma and the dog sitter needs to evacuate.

Stopping for bread, water, peanut butter, batteries, and other supplies are part of this afternoon's agenda in case we implement Plan C, not leaving the house.

Plan D will involve packing some bags, filling the gas tanks, and driving in what I presume will be gridlock traffic later this week.

I'm trying to focus on Plan A, a short trip out of town for a few days, and put the possibilities of the others out of my mind. But really we'd be foolish to not prepare.

Tonight we'll tie down patio furniture, secure potted plants, and get the house prepared. Charlie's printed out his "hurricane prep" list and we're going through the motions for some of the things...just in case.

Courtesy of Dean, the plan is in effect

The hurricane preparedness plan has been put into action this weekend on Bordeaux Street, with Hurricane Dean gaining strength and heading for the gulf.

We decided at the start of the season, we will not leave our home if a hurricane threatens New Orleans. We purchased on high ground, and on high ground we will sit.

So, we've stockpiled 55 gallons of water, 30 gallons of gasoline, filled the tanks of both cars, dusted off the generator, purchased a window unit air conditioner, replenished our supply of nonperishable foods, and replaced food in the freezer with containers filled with blocks of ice. If a storm were set to hit the coast within 24 hours we have large buckets and containers on standby to fill with water to be used to flush toilets. We have large trash bags to dispose of perishable items here and at the rentals, because Charlie cannot withstand another rotten fridge disposal!

Oh, and we have bear spray on hand, if we're faced with looters. I couldn't manage to shoot a gun, but no doubt I could douse someone in bear spray.

I think Charlie has thought of everything, but I am sure we'll review this plan several times as Dean gets closer. Although we're not in the projected probable path as of today, something that big and that close has gotten our attention and prompted action.

We're working on getting a telephone that doesn't require electricity (not cordless!) so hopefully you'll be able to call us if we lose electricity. I'm sure we'll have lots of folks to chat with!