David & Schuyler's Hurricane Blog

Thanks to everyone who's called and emailed to find out how we're doing and what we're doing. Because of your concern and interest we decided to create this blog to keep you updated.

We began storm preparations earlier in the week when the forecasts had Gustav heading almost directly at New Orleans. We made our lists of things to do and worked our way through the lists as the week progressed. On Wednesday, we contacted guests scheduled to arrive for the weekend and advised them to make contingency plans with their airlines and reserve rental cars in case they needed to fly out of a city other than New Orleans. (All of our guests decided to forego their trip to New Orleans and rebooked for later in September.)

By Thursday we'd decided we would probably evacuate. David's family is mostly in Shreveport so that's where we planned to go if necessary. This was Schuyler's only day off from work for the week, so he was busy getting all of our important documents together and organizing evacuation plans.

On Friday, the restaurant where he works decided the storm was still too far off to know for sure what might happen and announced they would stay open through the weekend—much to the chagrin of many of the employees. It's difficult for people who haven't lived here and experienced hurricanes before to understand the wait and see mentality that is so prominent in New Orleans. As history goes, Katrina was such an anomaly. The city has dodged so many bullets in the past no one really expects another major hurricane to bother us for a long time. Many of our friends, though they had contingency plans, didn't really expect to leave.

We got up early Saturday morning to complete the last of our preparations. The last big thing was clearing all the plants and furniture off the deck. We'd never really thought about how much we have out back until then. It took us nearly two hours to stash all the plants amongst the trees and between the fence—hoping this would provide enough protection from the winds to keep any from becoming potentially dangerous projectiles. The large potted palms we laid down between the house. The furniture we moved inside. Furniture in the house was rearranged to protect favorite pieces from any damage should there be broken windows and rain damage, or rain driven under the doors. Schuyler packed his suitcase so we could leave as soon as he got off work.

So, Schuyler dutifully went to work his lunch shift on Saturday. Even with Southern Decadence in full swing, the Quarter already seemed eerily empty. Many businesses had already, or were in the process, of boarding up windows. Bourbon House, where Schuyler works, was putting big sections of wrought iron bars in its large plate glass windows when he arrive at work (protection against potential looting). Many of the hotels were asking people to leave on Saturday with mandatory check out on Sunday. In the past, many hotels have permitted "vertical evacuation." Not so this time. Apparently, as part of the city's new plans, hotels must send their guests on their way in advance of any hurricane.

While Schuyler was at work, David completed the task of securing the shutters and boarding up the windows we decided needed protection. Most of this is done not so much for protection against the storm, but to protect against looters after evacuation. Fortunately, our windows and doors are pretty heavily barred and secure, so not too much concern there.

As Gustav strengthened and conditions worsened, the restaurant made the decision to close down early. Yay! Everyone's mood was pretty jovial with a mix of anxiety, especially among those of us who've never been through this before. It was actually a fun shift. A few of us headed across the street to The Alibi, a local bar a lot of the resto workers tend to frequent after work. But alas, and totally unexpected, it was closed up tight. Oh well. Hugs and well wishes went around as one by one friends and co-workers left the building, not sure what the next few days would hold.

Thanks again to everyone for your concern, your prayers, and your good thoughts! It's a good thing in life to have families who love us and so many friends who care. Thanks especially to our friends in Memphis, David and Carissa, for their hospitality and willingness to become our cohorts in hurrication drinking and eating. And to Phoebe and Grayson for allowing us to invade their home and lives, forcing them to sleep together for five whole nights, THANK YOU!

Hopefully we won't have to do this again for a good long while. But we're keeping an eye on Ike...

[We're realizing now we should have been taking more photos to help you visualize so many things. Our apologies, but we really weren't living each day thinking of the blog so much to do so.]

Saturday August 30, 2006   

After looking at the storm track and evaluating what might happen before and after the hurricane hits, we decided to change up our plans and evacuate to Memphis instead of Shreveport. We have friends there who happily said they'd take us in. Our hope is that by staying there we'll be able to get back into New Orleans sooner than if we had to deal with the remnants of the storm between Shreveport and New Orleans. We'll see.

It took us longer to get everything together and leave than we'd anticipated, but we wanted to make sure the house was as secure as possible. The feral cat and her kittens we adopted seemed pretty confused by the barren deck, but none the less begged for food every time we opened the back door. We worry about them. They seem to all have inherited their mother's, shall we say, stupidity. We hope they survive.

Many people had already begun leaving the city. Even first thing in the morning, the news shows were reporting stop and go traffic. We checked traffic cams to try and figure out the best route out of town and watched a little of the news before packing up the car. Not knowing for sure what kind of traffic we might encounter, we loaded up a couple of ice chests with drinks and food—most of it cleared out of the refrigerator so we wouldn't come home to rotten, putrid who-knows-what in the fridge—a foul memory of Katrina.

The anxiety of the situation really began to set in as we checked one more time to make sure we'd done everything that needed to be done. Schuyler stood in front of the house for one last parting look, said goodbye to a neighbor, and got in the car. It was about 5:30 p.m.

We decided to take the Causeway Bridge across Lake Pontchartrain rather than I 10 freeway west. This seems to have been a good choice. Once we connected to I 55, traffic was heavier and slower, but we made it to Memphis in about 7.5 hours—normally around 6 hours or so. It was an interesting road trip.

Just about every time traffic really slowed down, it wouldn't be too long before we'd see a car or two or three pulled off the side of the road, for whatever reason. What's with that? Not just the pulling off to the side of the freeway, but why does that slow everything down? Then, periodically, everything would be moving slow and we'd come across a driver going like 40 miles an hour, on the freeway...What's up with that?!

But all in all, it wasn't so bad. We had food and drink—although David yelled at me for drinking the wine in the car. We were making good progress, and we had each other. Once we were past Jackson MS, the road opened up and we cruised along at regular speed. We listened to the radio, cds, gave each other hand massages, and told each other stories to keep us awake until me made it to Memphis.

Sunday August 31, 2008   

We arrived in Memphis about 1:00 a.m. ready for a shower and bed but got sidetracked by the brownies, peanuts, and bottle of Maker's Mark set up for us on the kitchen table. Not wanting to be impolite guests...we opened the bourbon, filled our shot glasses, and took advantage of the post travel delights. David hopped in the shower, while I found the energy to get undressed and get into bed.

After a good night's sleep, though not enough, an early morning phone call woke us up. Actually, Schuyler woke up, anxious for the latest news on Gustav's progress. We both got up and went downstairs to greet our evacuation hosts. David and Carissa and the kids were already up. After hugs and hellos, coffee and muffins, Schuyler slipped away to catch the latest news on TV.

We all had a great brunch—including bloody marys—at the Beauty Shop, this great little restaurant in the Cooper Young neighborhood of town. The space used to actually be a beauty shop. The restaurant kept much of the old equipment and incorporated it into its decor. There are shampoo station bowls incorporated into the bar, and two-person booths with the big old hair dryer units poised over the seats. Very cool and very good food. The bloody marys were pretty good too (thought not as good as Spencer's at Good Friends in New Orleans.)

Calls and emails have been coming in from former guests, family and friends. Thank you so much! Your thoughts and concern have really meant so much to us.

After a bit of a catch up nap, time to wait some more for the latest updates...

We enjoyed a bit of a distraction this afternoon. We joined in the birthday celebration for our hosts seven year old, Phoebe, at the National Ornamental Metal Museum (metalmuseum.org). Carissa is the director there. The grounds for the museum are a former military base that sits on high cliffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Nothing like a bunch of kids running around having a good time to help keep your mind off things happening in New Orleans. Copious amounts of wine didn't hurt either.

One last check of the weather and email before going to bed. Thanks again for the calls and emails that continue to come in!

Monday September 1, 2008   

We woke up at first light, turned on the news and our computers to see what's going on. Gustav is painfully close, but at least a little weaker than it was. We're monitoring the news and keeping an eye on the forums on nola.com for information from neighbors who stayed behind. We're hoping for the best.

We're sitting here sipping on bloody marys, monitoring several news channels and the forums on nola.com. So far it seems relatively ok for our neighborhood. Reports of trees down and high winds, but not much rain. Apparently the electricity is still on in the Marigny, though out in the Bywater, the next neighborhood down river.

Well, looks like we dodged another bullet. Reports are good, though a lot of conflicting information about being able to get back in. C Ray, d'mayor, is making it sound like no one is allowed back in until Wednesday or Thursday. And then, starting with business owners. Not gonna do that! Everything was so fucked up during Katrina, they're going way out of their way to do it better this time. But, most of us know we don't have to do it their way.

We'll assess things tomorrow and decide if we go back on Tuesday or Wednesday. Our gracious hosts are wanting us to stay another day. After a day of cocktails, eating, and playing cards, might not be a bad idea...

Tuesday September 2, 2008   

Slept better last night, not being so anxious about what's going to happen. We got up in time to see Carissa off to work, but missed the kids leaving for school and David to work. It's a little strange to be in the middle of everyday life happening when our life is sort of on hold right now.

We seem to be getting some cloud cover and cooler weather here in Memphis, I guess from Gustav. It's really nice sitting out here on the sun porch having coffee and reading the latest news online, catching up on email.

We're debating whether to try and get back in today or wait until tomorrow. There are varying reports about damage in our neighborhood and if the electricity is on or not. We seem to be on the same grid as the Quarter, which has power, so we think the electricity is probably fine at our house. Officials haven't been very forthcoming about whether they'll actually have check-points manned to turn people back if they try coming in too soon. So that's the debate: do we take the chance we won't be able to get back in or not?

I am a little anxious about what we'll find once we get home. Even though the city was apparently spared any serious damage, there have still been reports of trees down and debris everywhere. Were our preparations and precautions enough to prevent any damage? Are all the plants secure or are they blown all over the yard? Did the cats have enough sense to hide out during the storm? Can't spin the wheels on all that too much, but we are thinking about it.

Interestingly, ironically even, David was just looking at the radar imaging for what's left of Gustav. It seems to be sending potentially nasty weather between us here in Memphis and our route back home and probably not much between Shreveport and New Orleans. We came here instead of going to Shreveport thinking we'd avoid that problem. Oh well.

We're going to see if we can get the car in today to get an oil change and check everything for the trip back. Schuyler has a niece and her husband here, so we're hoping to have lunch with them if we decide not to head back to NOLA.

And so it goes. More waiting and sorting through information, more decisions to be made. Such is life when you're on hurrication...

After trolling the Internet for information, consulting the forums, sending and answering a number of emails, we headed off to have lunch with Schuyler's niece Susan and her husband Andy. They moved to Memphis a couple of years ago. They bought this cute little house in a very scary neighborhood. But they only paid like $40,000 for the house! Their mortgage is less than they were paying in rent. Besides, they like living in a "diverse" "transitional" neighborhood.

We decided we need to be out of the house for a while and away from the computers, so we drove around looking at fabulous homes in fabulous neighborhoods. And looked at a few places for sale that David had seen online. Memphis is full of a lot of nice wide boulevards and lots of big old trees. Really beautiful.

It's become more overcast, darker clouds, and windier as the day wears on. We've heard weather reports for areas between here and home that don't sound too promising.

Back at the house and checking up on emails and stuff, it looks like Nagin isn't allowing "ordinary" citizens back in before Thursday morning at the earliest—as quoted from an article in the Times Picayune. Oh brother! Apparently after Katrina they developed this tier system for allowing people back in. If you don't have the proper permit, you don't get in. Permits have to be obtained prior to any hurricane. We'd never heard of this before now.

So, tier 1—first responders, hospital employees, utility workers, government contractors and subcontractors that provide critical services, and volunteer rescue and response organizations. Tier 2—employees of building supply companies, medical supply companies and financial institutions—will be allowed in Wednesday morning, while Tier 3—including gas station operators, grocers and other retailers—can get in by Wednesday afternoon. Wonder if they count B&B owners as business people?

There have been posts on the nola.com forum from people who have managed to get back in on medical or other id's, but most of the stories are of people being turned back at check points. There still seems to be contradicting information on where electricity is on and where it’s not.

Another evening of keeping up as much as possible and doing things to take our minds off what will happen in the next couple of days. DP (David's nickname) and our hostess Carissa are working on dinner. We stocked up on wine and other beverages for the evening and plan to spend the time enjoying the food, drink, and company.

We feel less and less concerned that we sustained much damage, if any. Reports seem to indicate not much really happened in our part of the neighborhood. We’ll find out soon. Though apparently not before some time on Thursday—yes, that was meant to sound bitter…

Wednesday September 3, 2008   

Woke up to a rainy day here in Memphis. Naturally we checked for the latest information first thing. Lots of people streaming back into Southern Louisiana. All parishes except for New Orleans were allowing residents back in starting at 6:00 a.m. Then the rumors started that they were going to allow everyone back in. Finally about 8:30 Nagin made an official announcement that the check-points were coming down and everyone could come home.

We called a friend's sister who stayed behind and asked her if she'd run by our place and check it out. We've been particularly worried about a neighbor's tall palm tree, fearing it might blow down on the back of our house. She confirmed that all is well, the tree is still standing.

We contemplated trying to go back home today. David has some work he needs to get done. We probably won't have time for much else beside clean up for a day two once we get back, so he's working now. Plus we figure there are going to be thousands and thousands of people heading back home today. Since we’re staying with friends rather than paying for a hotel, we'd rather wait one more day and hopefully have less traffic to deal with tomorrow.

Reports are already starting to come in that the roads in are becoming more and more congested. I think we made the right decision to stay put for now. Once again out on the sun porch, enjoying a relatively cool, rainy day.

David took a break from working so we could go grab some bbq. Went to Tops, a local chain. Not bad bbq, but not the best. We're taking David and Carissa out for a nice dinner tonight, so didn't need to eat a lot any way. Afterward we drove out to Graceland, the home of Elvis and Priscilla. I've never been out there so see it. The drive out to the estate is pretty, well, interesting. You don't pass through very nice parts of town. Strip malls, beauty salons, most of it pretty run down looking. I wonder what foreigners, or anyone for that matter, think as they're driving to the site. We didn't pay to go in, but there is a little area you can pull off and see the mansion, read all the inscriptions on the front wall, and take pictures if you want. Apparently, for years people have written their names on the stone wall out front of the property. Some leave messages to Elvis. It was interesting. If it was a nicer day I wouldn't have minded seeing the estate. Naturally the area abounds in souvenir and memorabilia shops. Now I can say I've seen it.

We picked Phoebe and Grayson up at David's gallery and took Phoebe to her ballet class then brought Grayson home. David's gone to pick her up. How do parents keep up with all this?! I'd gone out earlier today to stock up on some groceries for the trip home and to have some things for home once we get there. We don't anticipate there being any stores open yet in our neighborhood. And not knowing what is going to be open, David is out nowstocking up on wine and Grey Goose—just some of the essentials for life in New Orleans.

We're still planning to leave first thing in the morning. We'll update the blog as soon as we can and let you know how the trip goes and what we find when we get home.

Thursday September 4, 2008   

We had a great time out with David and Carissa last night. They hired a sitter for the kids so we could go out and have some adult fun. Started out at a relatively new place in town, The Cove. It's a sort of made to look like a dive bar dive bar. Nautical theme with much of the decor purchased from a former restaurant. Wednesdays are dozen-and-a-half for a dozen price oyster nights. That, some Stoner Pie, and a couple rounds of exotic drinks got the night off to a rockin start. The Cove has an extensive list of specialty cocktails, larger than their list of eats. Service was not so hot, but the place was full and apparently only one harried waitron.

From there we moved on to Tsunami, another good restaurant in Cooper Young. Two bottles of wine, some great chicken satay, really really good small plate entrees—the pepper crusted tuna was awesome!—a yummy classic crème brule, and this incredible chocolate ginger beignet with coconut sorbet, OMG!, we were ready for a good night's sleep.

Unfortunately, it was a pretty restless night. David's phone went off at like 2:45, jangling us both out of sleep thinking it was the alarm and it was time to get up. Not so. A text message from friends in London wishing us a good trip home. Then a short while later, Schuyler woke up thinking he heard thunder or perhaps a tornado—you know, does that sound like a train sound? Turned out to be jets taking off from the nearby airport. Oi!

So, when the alarm finally did go off, at 6:00, I think we'd both just sort of settled back in to sleep. Oh well. We got up and had coffee and breakfast with David and Carissa and the kids. Kind of sad in a way. Anxious to get home, but it's been such a good time. I'm sure the girls will be glad to have their own rooms back—Phoebe's been sharing her room with Grayson—but even they gave us big hugs before heading off to school.

Still lots of conflicting information on whether there's electricity in our neighborhood. One report on the forum mentioned Iggy's opening last night around 8:00. Iggy's is this great little neighborhood bar just up the street from our place. That's encouraging. News reports make it sound like electricity make be sporadic and on again off again for up to a month, much like it was after Katrina. But we'll be home. Friends are home. So we'll be with them.

We've restocked our ice chests—one just with ice so we can at least have cold cocktails when we get home—gassed up the car, got cash, and are packed up ready to go. Our plan is to start out on the highway 55 and go as far as we can. There are a number of back roads not far from the highway we can get to once/if traffic starts to back up.

Hopefully we'll be able to update the blog tonight. We'll be in touch as soon as we can.

THE RETURN OF THE KING(S)

Ok, so I'm a Lord of the Rings fan...and no jokes about queens. We managed to get on the road by about 8:30, only a half hour later that we were shooting for. Traffic wasn't too bad for the first couple of hours, but there were a lot of Louisiana license plates. We hit a snag about 10:30. Traffic was at a standstill. Not already we thought. Things crept along for a bit before we saw an accident off to the side of the road and two military personnel directing traffic, alternating traffic flow between the two lanes. After that we were back to zooming along at 70 miles an hour.

It all went pretty well until we got close to Jackson, MS. Traffic really started slowing down again with the concentration of Louisiana plates even greater. Just past the city we got off the highway to fill up on gas and get a bite to eat—we had snacks and such, but wanted something a little more substantial. The first gas station we pulled into only had two or three pumps that still had gas. And there were lines waiting for those. We pulled out and found a station just down the road that still had plenty.

Traffic was still moving slowly when we got back on the highway. It picked up a bit, but we could see the line of traffic up ahead, snaking for miles in the distance. We'd made pretty good time so far, and even though traffic was moving, decided to get off the main highway and take a more scenic route on a state road. We were glad we did.

We encountered very little traffic and enjoyed driving through the country side. Most of it was pretty rural with rolling green hills, lots of trees, farmhouses and small communities. All along the route it was obvious the storm had gone through—lots of small to large tree branches down, a few trees down here and there. The only real bad thing we got into was clouds of love bugs. OMG, never seen so many. We had to stop about every 20 minutes or so to clean off the windshield, it was so bad. Interestingly enough, these small black, flying insects turn snow white when they splat against the windshield. For miles it sounded like rain hitting the window. When we'd stop, they were swarming everywhere. Truly amazing, and icky. (click on the thumbnail to get the full affect of the photo)

As we got closer and closer to the Louisiana state line, traffic picked up more and more. It really concentrated just outside of Franklinton, the small town that marked the beginning of the last leg to New Orleans. Not knowing for sure what to expect when we got home, we topped off the gas tank and stopped at the Winn Dixie to get milk and some chicken and steak for a couple of meals. I was especially craving steak for dinner. We encountered many people on their way to home, New Orleans and nearby. At this point we were about an hour and a half out. I called some friends to see if they'd made it back in yet and what the situation was. They had, with few traffic problems. Electricity was on. The city was messy, but navigable. I was getting really anxious to be home at this point, and less and less tolerant of the traffic and stupid drivers. David took over driving.

Even with traffic increasing it was still moving along, mostly at the speed limit. We'd decided to come back in the way we went out, over the Causeway across Lake Pontchartrain (at 26 miles long, one of the, if not THE, longest bridges in the country). As we entered Mandeville, the last city before the Causeway, I was more anxious than ever. Usually a toll road going back in to New Orleans, the toll was waived to keep traffic flowing. It was a beautiful trek across the lake. Late afternoon, with some cloud cover, the lake was a steely grey color. We saw a number of pelicans flying low over the water. At a point, we could see the New Orleans skyline in the misty distance, getting closer and closer.

Once over the bridge, we decided to take surface streets into the city rather than the I 10 freeway. Driving through the neighborhoods, many people had already done some clean up, stacking downed and cut up branches curbside. Driving through Old Metairie (a suburb), electricity was still out there. None of the stop lights were working. We decided rather than taking Canal Blvd. and enter through the Quarter, we'd head over by City Park and take Esplanade to take us right into our hood.

Lots and lots of branches and trees down. We kept looking for signs of electricity being on. There was a lot of damage around City Park. The crepe myrtles that line the entrance to the park were all leaning, nearly toppled, even though they were held in place by tie-downs. None of the stop lights were working. Esplanade is a big boulevard lined mostly with huge old oak trees. It was passable, but there were a lot of branches down. We didn't see many trees toppled. Electricity seemed scattered with crews working here and there on cutting up downed branches and on the power lines.

We reached Esplanade and Rampart, just two blocks from our house. The stop light at the intersection was out. Not a good sign. As we turned on to Rampart, the little community center building's roof that covers the sidewalk was laying on the ground in a tangled mess. The upper story facade was gone, exposing the interior. I could see that the light at our street, where Rampart turns into our neighborhood, was green. Yay!

We turned the corner onto our block to see our little house looking almost as it had when we'd left almost a week ago. The sidewalk was littered with branches off the two palms out front. There was some debris along the sidewalk and in the street next door, but that was essentially it. David immediately got out of the car and walked to the side of the house to see if the big palm tree next door was still standing. Even though we'd had two people tell us everything looked fine, we had to confirm for ourselves that the tree was still there. Whew!

Before doing anything else, we got into the house and walked through to check it out. We laughed as we walked into the entry hall. We'd left the light on, apparently as we'd left. Otherwise, because the windows were shuttered and blinds and curtains drawn, it was pretty dark. After turning on a couple of the air conditioners, we opened the blinds on the windows and let the natural light fill the rooms. Even though we’d moved a lot of furniture around to protect it and the rooms didn’t look like they normally do, it was great to see it all there.

One of the first spots we checked was the bathroom for the Grande Suite. In heavy rain storms the ceiling fan tends to leak. There's also a rectangular window high up above the shower with a crack in it. We were concerned that might not make it. But all was well in there. The office at the back of the house was fine, though stuffy. We did notice some water damage on the ceiling in the bathroom back there. The kitchen was fine. The dining room was fine. Next, opening the door to the deck to see what the back looked like.

Although worried about the kittens, we'd hoped maybe they would have moved on. No such luck. Almost as soon as we turned the door knob, they came running from all directions, crying for food—that was still in the car, so they'd have to wait. The deck was a mess, but mostly just leaves and seed pods from the surrounding trees. The pool was a weird sort of green, with a couple palm branches floating in it and the bottom full of debris from the trees. So much for a refreshing welcome home swim...

The palms on our property, which we'd wanted to get trimmed up, looked a lot cleaner. Though of course, that meant the dead branches were now scattered about our yard and the neighbors' yards. There's a big mulberry tree next door. One of its branches, which hangs over our property, had split from the tree and was hanging precariously lower over that side of the deck—we'll need to take care of that as soon as possible. We heard a sound we thought was the laboring of the pump on the pool, thinking we'd forgotten to turn it off. But getting back to the pump, realized one of the neighbors on the next block behind us had a generator going. Guess they didn't have electricity yet. The plants we'd tucked away amongst the trees and the fence and between the pool and the fence all looked fine. All in all, not so bad, just a lot of clean up to do.

Back inside, we gingerly opened the refrigerator, hoping the electricity hadn't been off too long and that there wasn't anything rotten in it. We'd pretty much cleaned out anything that would easily spoil before we left, but still. Everything was fine. Especially the beer David left. Nice cold beer. David eagerly took a bottle out and popped the top. Everything in the freezer was fine. Ice cubes were frozen. I quickly went and grabbed my bottle of Grey Goose and stuck it in the freezer.

We unpacked the car into the living room and began to settle in. Once we had food stuffs in the fridge, we went back outside to retrieve the bbq grill from its safe place and get it set up to make dinner. We moved all of the deck furniture out of the dining room so we could get to the air conditioner in there and turn it on. David went inside to put some things away. I went back outside to drain some of the water out of the pool and pick up some of the downed branches. Some I had to pull out of the trees themselves.

At that point, we were both starting to feel the effects of an early morning and a long travel day. We'd started the grill and had potatoes baking. David retreated to one of the bath tubs with another cold beer (he loves soaking in a tub). I put a martini glass in the freezer and went to take a shower. First though, I shaved off five days of beard I'd grown—I'd decided I wasn't going to shave until we were back home. I might have left it for another day or two, but man, there were a lot of grey hairs. What's up with that!

No cable at the moment, so not only did we not have Internet access we couldn't watch any TV—except that for some reason we're able to get local channel 4. We decided to eat and watch a movie, so I connected up the DVD player. We both felt like we needed something light and fun. Something musical. So, for the umpteenth time we watched Hair Spray, the Musical. Even seeing it as many times as we have, it still makes us laugh and feel good. A perfect cap to the day.

And that's how our first night back home went. Back home, feels soooo good to say that!

Friday September 5, 2008   

First full day back home—still feels good to say that. We made lattes and sat in bed and watched the local news for a bit. David's doing laundry. I'm going to go find somewhere with Internet access so I can upload this, and then it's time to start cleaning up out back.

The day has been spent cleaning up out front and back. It took us way longer than we expected. Before we could even really begin putting the deck back together we had to take care of the big branch from our neighbor's tree hanging over the deck. We called around to see if any of our friends had a chainsaw, but no luck. We finally drove out to Lowe's and bought a hand saw and a branch trimmer thingy.

David worked on the tree out back while I trimmed up the palm trees out front. The wind had loosened a number of the older branches, so it seemed to make sense to just get rid of them before they fall on the car, or someone walking by. The city has said they'll be picking up debris placed curbside. I'm sure they will, but it took a long time for that to happen after Katrina. But we dutifully did as instructed. Now there are three big piles of storm debris out front.

We both finally pooped out about 5:00 and decided to go to our favorite neighborhood bar and see if any of our friends were out and about. So reminiscent of post-Katrina. I came down to New Orleans to help friends who were returning home, after being away for over a month. As people were returning home and restaurants and bars were re-opening, everyone was talking about where they went to get away from the storm and how bad the damage was.

Well, this time people were only gone a number of days, not weeks, and damage is far, far less than back then. But it was still what everyone was talking about. Walking into the Quarter, we suddenly heard people yelling and whooping. We weren't sure what was happening until the people in the house came running out shouting "we have power, we have power!" We clapped for them as did neighbors across the street. All the way in there was evidence of the storm. Some windows were still boarded up. Lots of tree branches down everywhere. But people were out, stores open, things getting back to normal.

We had a good time seeing many friends and sharing stories. Back home, we bbq'd some chicken and had a simple chicken and rice dinner. The cable came back on this afternoon, so we were able to watch some TV. Now it's off to bed, tired and a little sore from the day's work, but happy to be back home.