Vent-A-Lation

The Heat of August In New Orleans

2011-08-18T19:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I drove to Wal-Mart. The heat is bad here now. I went in and walked around and really forgot what I went for. So as not to let on, I did what any respectable old guy would do. I walked around each and every isle looking at things. I was sure if I saw it I would then remember. I covered everywhere some places twice. I gave up and drove home right past the Post Office when I remembered that was where I was going in the first place.

Perils of Katrina:Snake in the Bookcase

2011-08-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

I had a small tin shed damaged by the storm. I just put the tin roof back on after Katrina and did not really clean it out. I had several things from my law office in it. The book cases became a home for mice and I just let it sit until I could gather the courage and time to remove the destroyed items. I am trying to salvage two of the file cabinets but most everything was destroyed by rain and critters. Today I began to remove the books to a burn pile and discovered a large mother snake curled up in a void. She did not move which is why I could go inside and get the camera for this picture. She was large, about 5 feet I estimate and I am not sure the type but assume she is a king snake? I have several in the yard I let roam around as before them I had too many mice. Plus I am told poisonous snakes keep away from king snakes. So I hope they keep the mice and cotton mouths away. I finally after pleading with her to move so I could remove the books had to get a stick and push her off. She laziely slithered down the back and tried to come back out the front until I encouraged her to keep away from my feet with the stick. I'll have to keep an eye out for her as I sill have more to remove from that old shed.

The Old Cub Cadet

2011-03-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

As I continue to clear away debris still standing in my back yard from Katrina I pull out old things that once were used and liked. About 15 years ago my son and I were able to get an old Cub Cadet running. He rebuilt it, cleaned it, added a few new things and it ran for a few years. I parked it next to a shed in the back yard. The shed was hit by several trees. The wind blew most of the tin off. All I did initially was put the roof tin back on and throw away some items in it but not all the stuff that was stored there. Now that stuff is a real mess and I need to remove it and burn it.
I was able to pull out the Cub Cadet after sawing up and pulling away big tree limbs and lots of vines. Vines and roots grew all in the cutting deck. Apparently I let it all the way down when I parked it. Rust seems to have eaten a lot of things but I was able to fill the tires with some air, grease the axels and pull it to a spot I can work on it again. It has a good old Kohler engine and Delco starter with a Sears battery. Soon as I can drain the gas, clean the carburetor, check the plug I may see if it starts. Not to cut grass but to ride around the yard. I’ll report back if I get it running again. It reminds me of the History TV Show about pickers. I have found all sorts of things covered in debris I could not get to after the storm.

I found this article on the web so I may be able to restore it.

In 2008, Mr. Will solidified his garden tractor expert reputation by releasing a book Garden Tractors: Deere, Cub Cadet, and All the Rest. It’s full of great photos (new and old, like the one at the top that I love) that outline the garden tractor’s history and brands.
Cub Cadet articles from the Farm Collector Archives
The Tough International Harvester Cub Cadet Garden Tractor by Oscar H. Will III from the April 2004 issue
Cub Cadet Garden Tractor Restoration by Oscar H. Will III from the May 2004 issue
Cub Cadet Garden Tractor Restoration (Part II) by Oscar H. Will III from the June 2004 issue

Garden Tractors: Deere, Cub Cadet, and All the Rest by Oscar H. Will III (2008, $25, available from Farm Collector books)
Original Farmall Cub and Cub Cadet by Kenneth Updike (2004, $37.95, available from Farm Collector books)

Katrina Trash Sculpture

2011-03-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have been working on clearing my back yard of fallen trees left from the storm. As I remove the leaners and hangers, brush and debris I recover things covered over for years. My old pirogue was crushed, motor boat got a hole that a small tree grew in. So I took the mess and trash and made a ‘Katrina Trash Sculpture’. I placed it in front of the propane tank, removing one eyesore for another. What to do with the tings that once meant something but were removed from thought and action by the storm. Just throwing them away belittles the trauma caused by the very strong winds. Winds that changed so many lives and the way we live now. No more pirogue, motorboat, and odds and ends. I did find the old volley ball net and it survived, I was surprised. Made of nylon and in a torn plastic bag covered in twigs and leaves. It now hangs between two new small growing trees, a testament that life goes on.

Part of the pirogue crushed by fallen tree and the volleyball net. Now I have to get back to work.

Cutting trees in Pearl River

2011-03-01T12:40:00.000-08:00

yes I am still cutting trees that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina in my back yard. My daughter and son-in-law helped one day but for 2 weeks I have managed to cut 8 trees so far. if the chain saws would work better I could get more done. Of that time I spent 4 days getting the saws to work. Sharpening chains, cleaning up the engine area, trying to get the kinks out. Both had pull start problems. The Craftsman finally Incredi Pull gave out after I cleaned the plug, cleaned it up sharpened the blade, etc. i pulled and broke went the Incredi Pull device. A small piece of black plastic fell out but I gave up for now as one saw worked. I went with it and cut 5 trees before I went broke too.
The tops were cracked and rotted, began to fall off, big chunks too. The Red headed Woodpeckers loved it but it was dangerous as one big chuck fell in the bed of my pick up one windy night. I wold come home to find big branches all over the yard, roof, and just lucky no real damage occurred yet. I still need to remove more.

Lumberjack Song - Monty Python

2011-02-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

I have been still cutting down damaged trees from the storm. I do not think I can get to all of them before time is out. February is the best month to do it and so far I have reclaim about a third of my back yard. Felling is easy the cutting to manageable pieces and stacking them for burning takes all the time.

The good news is it is great exercise. And yes when the tree falls you hear the sound.

Save The Marsh, Eat Nutria : New Orleans Fig Street Studio

2011-01-11T04:44:00.000-08:00

Save The Marsh, Eat Nutria : New Orleans Fig Street Studio

Follow Up On Crime In USA

2011-01-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

A US Congresswoman was shot along with several other innocent people in Arizona. A child was killed, only 9 years old, in this mass shooting. Obvious to me this was not "terrorism" and not from radicals overseas. We still spend billions on two wars to protect us from "terror". We are economically strapped from these fake wars to protect us from some phantom from overseas. Congress funds them with no questions asked, like lemmings following the false reasons espoused by certain groups years ago. The longest and for sure costliest wars in our history. Meanwhile back at home 16,000 people get murdered per year. People are out of work, business failures, bailouts, banks getting tax money, children going without health care. Congress then wants to pass tax breaks for the wealthy, cut out health care. Splinter groups make the headlines with outlandish claims of socialism, birthers claim foul, the news is not news but a platform for the unreal of our society. Real issues get lost in made up slogans. The cry of the day becomes the news. What has happened? The media is not acting responsible, not being professional journalists but taking the easy way out. If a paid group can come up with a claim and yell it loud enough the media runs with it like it is news. Well it isn't. The media is a fool. Easily swayed by well funded groups who catch the sound bites of the day.

Wake up news media. Fact find the slogans. Be real journalists and get to the real issues facing us in the USA. Crime kills more Americans per year then any other "terror". Wars in foreign lands are not the answer to our safety. How many more innocent people have to be murdered because we cannot police our own country?

Another Great Philadelphia Meal

2010-12-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

My son got blown to Philadelphia after the storm so for several years now we travel up to visit. My daughters and I flew in for a long December weekend and we planned the now annual Sunday Dim Sum at Joy Tsin Lau. We arrived early to avoid the crowds, paid for parking right next door. A little expensive to park $25 even with validation but the food per person was $12 per head and very filling. I wish we had a big red Chinese Dim Sum place here in New Orleans the all you eat buffet is just not as much fun.

Here are some reviews of the place and other Dim Sum restaurants in Philly-http://www.yelp.com/biz/joy-tsin-lau-philadelphia-2

CRIME: Is it as important as "Terrorism"?

2010-09-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

I read through a nice blog about being prepared for terrorism and bad things happening. I have been thinking the entire "Terrorism" things we hear have been way over blown. The chances of the average guy being hurt by a terrorist is slim yet the changes of an American family being harmed by a local criminal is great. Now we are spending billions on wars to protect us from a terrorist as we cut spending on local crime prevention. Over the last 60 plus years I cannot count the number of times a member of my family or myself was harmed by a criminal act. In some cases costing us a lot of money and some hospital bills. Yet our government has gone to war to protect me from a "terrorist" ignoring that which really threatens me and my family. My personal thoughts are simple the "terror" thing was a political move by certain groups and the current politicians are afraid to stop the hype in favor of doing the right thing and protecting Americans from local crime, drug wars, and the things that really affect us. It would be nice if we spent just some of those billions we spend on foreign wars to protect us from a terrorist on simple local crime prevention or stopping the growth of drugs in this county. I have read that 80% of the crime here is drug related and who knows how many American families are harmed by the drug problem. I would venture to say more Americans have been killed by local criminals than any terror attack. Before I prepare myself to avoid a terror attack I better prepare myself from a local criminal. When I can I will find those figures that show what I am saying, we should devote more attention to preventing local crime then any terrorist.

PS- If I am reading the statistics correctly at this link about 10,000 Americans have been murdered a year. Since the 9-11 terror attacks about 3 times the number of Americans per year are killed by local criminals rather than terrorists. Each year it seems to increase. Not to mention the other crimes that cause harm to the average guy. Here is the link,http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

Look at the harm criminals cause and compare to the hype about terrorism. Where should we be spending those billions? Protecting us from a terrorist, which is important, or a criminal which seems a lot more important?

This blog lists all the statistics here http://newsblaze.com/story/20090221100148tsop.nb/topstory.html

u are 17,600 times more likely to die from heart disease than from a terrorist attack

-- You are 12,571 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack

-- You are 11,000 times more likely to die in an airplane accident than from a terrorist plot involving an airplane

-- You are 1048 times more likely to die from a car accident than from a terrorist attack

--You are 404 times more likely to die in a fall than from a terrorist attack

-- You are 87 times more likely to drown than die in a terrorist attack

-- You are 13 times more likely to die in a railway accident than from a terrorist attack

--You are 12 times more likely to die from accidental suffocation in bed than from a terrorist attack

--You are 9 times more likely to choke to death on your own vomit than die in a terrorist attack

--You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist

--You are 8 times more likely to die from accidental electrocution than from a terrorist attack

-- You are 6 times more likely to die from hot weather than from a terrorist attack

http://newsblaze.com/story/20090221100148tsop.nb/topstory.html

Five Years After Katrina

2010-09-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Old French Quarter Balcony New Orleans by figstreetstudio
More ""Art Prints

I was in the Great Smoky Mountains a place I visit now days during most of hurricane season and decided to head home for the five year anniversary of Katrina. Programs, news, and friends all were going to discuss where we are now. Personally the storm made many changes to my family. People are displaced, in new cities, in new homes. Just my two daughters have braved it back and bought flooded homes to fix up. Yes, to fix up because the effects of the flood are still around and both homes still need repair. One big thing was the sinking of foundations. Both my daughter and son had to have their houses shored and leveled 4 years after the flood. I am not sure why or how the ground was affected but it is so common now here in post Katrina New Orleans. Trees died, were removed so I think the roots died too. Ground water must have changed, and I am sure just plain rot of the old foundations occurred. That is another high expense that no insurance covers.
One daughter bought a house in Mid-City that one apartment was not repaired since Katrina. It had mold behind the wall paper, electrical and plumbing problems, and a lot of rot. She fixed it up the best she could and it now looks nice, before repairs it would have been impossible to live in yet the old owner tried to rent it out? So we make progress even if it is slow and in fits and spurts.
Me, I stayed in my cabin in the woods on the North Shore. I still cut,and remove broken trees and branches each day. Only about half of my two acres are cleared from Katrina debris. I get a lot of exercise though. The barn is falling down, too costly to repair. No tin on the roof and I would need heavy equipment to tear it down. It can wait to whenever. Everything stored in it got ruined and most is still sitting there until whenever. I always have had plans for a pond, plant grapes, or some goats and chickens but that is again whenever. Still there isn't enough time to get the repairs needed just from that one storm. Helping family, painting, work are still the priority and cutting trees or cleaning out a falling down barn is rated low on the list.
If you want to help and do not have time to put on work clothes and help cut trees and burn branches or clean out an old barn, just buy some of my art. I try to live off the income it generates but with the economy faltering art sales are a slow go.
I paint, do graphic designs and try my best to sell them on the web at my Fig Street Studio web page http://www.figstreet.com/studio. I also have shops at Cafe Press, http://www.cafepress.com/figstreetstudio and Zazzle, http://www.zazzle.com/figstreetstudio*. Both shops have lots of neat stuff from an old New Orleans artist. Christmas cards and ornaments, prints, invitations, t-shirts, fridge magnets, great gifts that help me out when you buy them. Things from $3.00 to $300 so they fit in every budget. Stop in and look around. This Christmas use one of my many Christmas Cards with New Orleans art, it helps me pay my bills. get a porcelain Christmas Ornament, or buy a print. And I have some of the funniest t-shirts available. Now go visit my shops and tell all your friends.

Interstate Enforcement of Child Support Orders, 37 Am Jur Trials 639 (1988)

2010-06-10T07:39:00.000-07:00

In 1988 I had published in the American Jurisprudence Trails by The Lawyers Co-Operative Publishing Co. of Rochester, NY an article about interstate enforcement of child support orders. The article now over 20 years old is dated, we have come a long way since then. I mention it here because it is difficult to find that article. I had some re-prints available I gave out back then but those are gone. I did the article from the many years of work I did as head of the Child Support Division of the New Orleans District Attorney's Office. Basically we went from nothing to a large operation obtaining child support for the many kids in Orleans Parish whose fathers failed to pay support letting the tax payer through welfare raise their kids. I have many war stories from those days but basically lets say the attitude of the fathers were let welfare pay for my child as they have done in the past. The change in making them support what they created took a while to take hold. I was surprised to discover we had about 20,000 children on welfare whose fathers were missing or failed to pay support. The other surprise was the number of illegitimate children. So we had to create a process of going to civil court to get a determination as to who was the biological father of the child. In many cases the man denied paternity like you watch on the Maury Show. We began the use of the paternity test way back then. After proving who was the daddy we then were able to get an order making the father support his child. Being away from it these many years I am not sure what the current numbers of children with fathers who are missing but I assume by doing the work we did back then the numbers have fallen a lot. It would be interesting to me to see how what I worked on to help create is doing these days.

Removing More Storm Damaged Trees

2010-02-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

Been a while since I posted here but want to catch up a little. Over the past few years damaged trees began to fall in the country. And at my son's house in Carrollton the entire fire place and chimney fell into the house. He just paid to have it removed and fixed but I certainly think the cave in from the bottom was due to the storm messing with the foundation. Had we thought that would happen right after Katrina we would have had it removed. It scared the tenants who now reside there as my son moved to Philadelphia.
A big oak tree fell over onto my trailer I use to move the lawn mowers around. It broke off the jack that holds it up bent the axle. I was surprised at how big a chunk fell and the damage it did. Many smaller trees are damaged, the top third seem to have died. I guess from the hard wind blowing must have made cracks that took time to die. The tops fall off, some big some small. So I have been targeting the trees I can get to and taking them down entirely. I got 3 done today but the clean up is harder then the cutting. A tree is a lot bigger on the ground then standing up. About 3 a day is all I can do. I still have leaners and hangers too. Big branches high up stuck in tree limbs. I tied a rope on one and pulled but all I did was break the rope. Another day another try. Seems the storm made a lifetime of work, unless you just move away.

Marvin Miller, Tree Carvings, Biloxi, MS.

2009-04-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

About a year after Katrina I rode my motorcycle to the Mississippi Coast to check on my property there. I could not make it to the spot. The roads were not fully open and bridge not finished so I just took a short ride to the Beach Road and discovered an artist carving the remains of some large oak trees. They were beautiful and actually the only happy discovery there. I would tell people that story and encourage them to go see that art. Today I saw a video on the web from NBC and a blog entry from the official photographer of those carvings, Logan Photography. They are beautiful and demonstrate the axiom make lemonade from lemons. Drive over to Biloxi and take a look how beautiful they are.

Links, photographers blog, Logan Photography-- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2227274/posts#comment
NBC Video- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29826281

It's The Humidity, Gustav !

2008-09-03T05:52:00.000-07:00

Almost exactly three years to the date I was faced again with leaving my home, this time my daughter Jennifer, her pet beagle, Lucy and I stayed in the renovated cabin in the woods in Pearl River, La. We felt with the Inter-state 59 close by and a Red Cross Shelter near we could stay and see if the storm was going to be as bad as Katrina before we left. My neighbors stayed for Katrina and stayed for this one, Gustav. We consulted the neighbors over what to expect and what to do. Lucky we did not get the damage or the tidal surge predicted as the storm declined in strength and went a little farther west of us. The big issue turned out to be the loss of major electrical transportation lines across the region. Those big, tall power poles and metal high wires were all damaged and have to be replaced. A big job taking time. The other big issue is traffic coming back into the area. Most all people left so coming back is an issue, when, who, where, and how. Most families cannot afford to stay in a hotel for a week waiting to get home and most feel that they have a right to be home even if the electrical grid is out. After all we populated this country before electricity was available.
The only problem we faced was loss of electrical service and the fact my generator would not start. Next one I get will be electrical start as it hurts the arm pulling a cord ten times and nothing happens. The rain and wind did minor damage around my home. I have posted videos I took, linked below. We were able to cook as I have a propane grill and cooker out side that worked great on the defrosted ribs. We could boil potatoes and brew coffee on it too. The food loss from the refrigerator is minor and the hot humid weather without fans or air condition is tolerable. A friend called and asked me to compare Katrina to Gustave. For me there could be none. Katrina was like an atomic bomb exploded on 90,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast destroying everything. It took eight months or so to repair my home and still repairs are needed in the area. Gustave made me uncomfortably hot and humid.

I am still loading to You Tube the videos so when they are done I will post a link to the videos I took on You Tube if you want to see the first one up of 6 to go.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYA8cdWDBec

Facts On Hurricane Katrina

2008-01-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

I visit several news forums and I get all PO'ed at people in other parts of the US making un-factual statements about the storm and what it did to my area and what is actually going on. So I posted a link on a forum with the real facts of what happened and who was responsible for what. The biggest thing that bothers me is about the levees that failed. The US Corps of Engineers was/is responsible for the levees. They were building them, designed, them, maintained them like other areas in the US. Louisiana, New Orleans, the people of the Lower 9th had nothing to do with its failure. The Corps states in their reports they had a design failure. That means they designed the levee and it could not hold water. They failed to properly design a levee system to protect the City of New Orleans. Their job was mandated by the US Congress and funded by the US Congress. They are now redoing the levee system that failed by another mandate of Congress. It is a Federal project like TVA, Hover Dam, and the many other flood control projects mandated by Congress. Another is the number of people who actually left town. A substantial majority of the people left less than 1% stayed for whatever reason they did. The people left town and many more in outlying areas went to higher ground. If you read some forums you would think the people of New Orleans stayed in a flooded city. Not true, only a small portion of those affected stayed behind. I think the figure was well over one million people left the area yet less than 20 thousand got caught in the flood. Some out of state people think everyone in the city stayed behind. The facts show the majority were old people who did not want to leave. Poor people with no idea what was going on, and some just plain dumb people. We have those in every city in the country. I doubt any major city can move everyone out in 36 hours. The problem was those people were left stranded for days in places with no food, water, or medical attention. Here is the link to what I posted so you can get the facts and not rely on people with no connection to the storm telling you what happened. http://www.topix.net/city/new-orleans-la/2008/01/facts-on-hurricane-katrina

Thoughts On Katrina's 2nd Anniversary

2007-08-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

I was born and raised in New Orleans. I saw the first light at Southern Baptist Hospital on Napoleon Ave. It is the now infamous Memorial Hospital where many people suffered and died in hurricane Katrina. I was raised in Lakeview in a wooden shotgun double on Catina Street not too far from the New Basin Canal and its Lighthouse. When I was small the Lakefront had no houses nor levees. The Pumping Station was at West End in the 17th Street Canal. At West End was a lovely park. When I was old enough to ride a bicycle I would ride there to play. A lot of good restaurants were there and we would eat out often. My favorite Aunt who lived in a camp in Bucktown cooked at one. I would spend most of my summers at her home in Bucktown where we could swim, fish, and crab right in the lake. I also had an uncle who lived on Lake Ave. He was a boat Captain and at times let me help him on the boats he would pilot from Lake Pontchartrain to Cuba. When I was 10 years old we moved form the wood shot gun double on Catina Street to new brick ranch in Lakewood. Lakewood was an old golf course before the homes were built. I missed the old double house on Catina as it was closer to the Lake. I could ride my bike and fish on the Lakefront, go to West End Park or visit my relatives in Bucktown. Lakewood was not that much farther but enough for a 10 year old to think so. It was about a block off the 17th Street Canal near Veterans Highway. The highway was like a barrier to me to head to the lakefront until I got older and could ride my bike past it. Both houses weathered many storms. For Betsy we lived in the brick ranch built on a concrete slab. The old wood double was raised on brick piers. When water would rise from rain or storms it just washed around the yard until it flowed back into the lake by gravity. No levees then, not until they began to build the homes along Lakeshore. In those days we had a boat in the yard for fishing and safety. For heavy rains we could park cars on higher ground near the New Basin Canal, which at that time went from the lake by the lighthouse and Bart's Restaurant to Metairie Road. The New Basin Canal lighthouse has always been special to me as it was the closest spot I could ride my bike by the lake and fish or use my small cast net for bait shrimp. It was also near some businesses so I was never far from a phone. Another Aunt had a little sandwich shop in a makeshift building at the bridge near Robert E. Lee Blvd. over the New Basin Canal leading to Bucktown and West End. She would give me a cold Chocolate Solider drink if I raked the little parking lot area and picked up litter. Both homes carry many memories for many people. My maternal Grandmother originally built the wooden double about 1920. The first house there on a shell road. She owned several lots on Catina Street. Bought them by monthly payments over many years. We actually had a little farm on those lots, chickens, a pig once, and a horse named "Lucky". No little farm at the brick slab home, it was in a newly developed subdivision, but we had planted fruit trees. Even an Avocado tree grown from a seed. We lived in the brick ranch for Hurricane Betsy. That hurricane left a lasting impression on me, so I never stayed in the city for any other hurricane, I always left even if it was just to go an hours drive north. I had to drive through Betsy's winds to fetch my grandmother to get her to safety about 10 PM that night. Power lines, tree branches, and debris blocked my path. I saw what a hurricane can do in person. Never again did I want to be in that situation. After growing up and moving away from those two homes every now and then I would drive by just to see them. Katrina changed all that. Both are gone, razed, just empty lots of land where once lived families that had memories of growing up in New Orleans.

Eccentrics In My Old Neighborhood

2007-07-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

My old New Orleans neighborhood was full of eccentrics. I think NOLa attracts them, not that I am all that righted either but I returned early enough the ground was still wet from the flood. One of the neighbors who walked around with a old Schwegman's Grocery Cart was coming down my street. I asked her how she was doing and where she went for the storm. She said she stayed in her room. She rented a room in the back of a big old house. I asked what she did when it flooded she said nothing. So I asked where she was going. She said the Helicopters dropped food and water in a school yard so she was making her groceries. A few minutes later she rolled by and asked me if I wanted some MRE's and Water, her cart full. I said no because I was heading back out before dark as there was no electricity. She stopped in each day by me as I picked up the mess the storm left in my yard. Then she was gone. I haven't seen her since the first few weeks after the storm.
Bob was on CNN. I did not recognize him at first he was dressed in a Hospital Gown. He was released from Charity the morning of the storm and went to his sisters where he stayed sometimes. Of course she was evacuated but Bob had no idea what was going on. He just stayed on her raised front porch for the big events. He finally saw a helicopter drop stuff near the school so he waded over with a piece of wood and floated MRE's and water back to his front porch shelter. He said 3 days later the National Guard made him leave and he found himself in Texas still in his gown. He said it was hard getting back but he finally did and related his ordeal to me as I made repairs to my place. He moved to Mississippi.

Progress

2007-04-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

With having to get back to work and life in general it has been hard to keep up with the blog on life after the Hurricane. I have made progress. Some painting, trim work, and minor repairs need to be done to the new Studio in Pearl River but for the most part things are getting back to normal. Life alone in the country is a new thing so I have been taking time off to visit places nearby. Most are still very damaged due to the storm, like my favorite spots at Bay St. Louis, MS. I like to ride my motorcycle over for lunch or dinner but the recovery is slow there. I am still cutting trees up so I can burn the pieces. I have about an acre to go but I managed to uncover the vital spots like the septic lines and retention pond, the sheds, and make a few paths around the back yard. Tree branches still crash down in hard winds. You can hear them fall even in the woods. I will try to keep up this post hurricane blog but as time moves on I have less time to blog.

The Back Yard

2006-09-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

Finally I have begun a little work on reclaiming part of the back yard. Katrina downed most all the trees and placed a lot of branches over the entire yard. I had some help early on from my kids getting the front somewhat cleared but the back sat as I did other major rebuilding jobs. Using chain saw and the 'carbonization chamber' I have been able to clear a small area. I have decided after working 3 weeks on this project to make an imaginary line through the back yard and clear only up to that spot. The rest can sit and rot. The process is cut tree trunks and branches to a small size, pick them up and burn them. After the land is exposed ride the lawn tractor over cutting the briars and weeds that have grown up. Hard work but as you see from the pictures the process works and I now have a small proton of the back yard reclaimed after one year of repairs and rebuilding. Now I need to plan on painting the exterior of the addition.

This is a photo of the same area right after Katrina. Anything that was there is covered in tree parts. All of the yard was in the same condition. I took the pictures from atop a tin roof over my back porch. Below is a picture of part of the backyard from ground level of the same trees and part of the back porch after I made a path around the cabin in September 2005.

The Barn

2006-09-06T03:58:00.000-07:00

Finally after a year of work and rebuilding the damages caused by Katrina I made it to the Barn to see what damage has been done. About 90% of the tin has been blown off the roof. Water gets inside and now weeds are growing up. A neighbor had the smaller out buildings pushed over with a small dozer as they were all leaning away from the wind. Safer to push them over then have them fall on anyone.
No insurance on those buildings. I owned the Barn for 28 years and maintained it in fair shape using it now and then for storage and on occasions a few animals. I always thought I would convert it into something, a house, a large studio, some useful building. It appears to be a total loss so I will ignore it for now, too busy cutting trees out of the back yard, removing branches, and finishing off the Addition to the Cabin. The Barn can wait, maybe it will go away? Funny NBC news had a broadcast about the loss of old barns in America and how some people are trying to save them on the same day I surveyed the damage to my Barn.

Relaxation

2006-08-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

I took off 3 weeks from rebuilding. The first time I left the area since Katrina. I visited Philadelphia,Atlantic City,Washington DC and NYC. A friend did a blog of my trip to Manhattan. I went to do nothing which we did in several places. See this link for my friends report http://mrjellynyc2.blogspot.com/. I was able to put all the work behind me and after the first few days just relaxed. I hardly knew what was happening here at home unless someone told me. Few people asked about New Orleans, few had any idea of the large area devastated along the Gulf Coast. Most seem to think it only affected those people left in the Superdome as that is the image burned in their minds. I would always say there were over 300,000 people who were not at the Dome and were affected greatly by the storm but that does not have the effect of the images of the people at the Super Dome. Seems CNN has defined what Katrina did and not the facts. Well I am back and there is still about another year of work to be done to get settled back in a home so I started early this morning back planning what repairs to do next. The roof needs a few shingles so I may have to get on that with all of this rain.

Carbonization Chamber

2006-07-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Originally I was titling this "The Burn Barrel" but after reading a few forums about 55 gallon drums used as burn barrels I decided to be more politically correct and designated this the 'Carbonization Chamber'. One of the many problems faced in a disaster of this sort, especially in a forested area is the large amount of down trees and branches. The government for the first 90 days or so would pick up and haul off this burnable debris as long as you could get it to the road right of way. One man and over 2 acres of fallen trees could not do that chore in 90 days, Paul Bunyan excepted. Not having Paul Bunyan's abilities, at a slow and steady pace, along with the other chores you read about in this blog, I cut and moved about half an acre in 9 months, Now as I no longer have the governments help with disposal I rely on the venerable 'Carbonization Chamber'. Much maligned by certain types, this ingenious devise gets red hot and transfers the largest log into ash in a very short time span. Keeping the heat contained is a much safer operation than any open burning. Care must be taken not to touch the devise with any exposed skin or clothing. At the current rate I hope to have the remaining debris carbonized in 2 years.

The Gate

2006-07-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

The old gate was something I rigged up some 10-12 years ago with several repairs over time due to someone hitting hit. Usually with a boat or trailer. My helper was getting supplies on a large trailer and bent one of the two swing gates. He must have felt bad as he brought over a larger farm gate I had on my property in Talisheek and two large posts. He offered to help with the replacement. I really wanted to do a wooden farm fence and gate at a later date having to complete the inside of the addition but as he offered to help we placed the large posts in the ground and I got to work putting up the gate and fencing needed to widen and move back the gate. The old gate was too close to the highway and any trailer set out until the gate could open. Now it is farther off and a bit hidden by bamboo. I used materials found at my place in Talisheek that was severely damaged by the high winds of Katrina. I will not rebuild there, way too much work. The best use of gates, post, and whatever from there would be here at the new addition. I managed to carefully remove the Muscadine grapes growing on the old fencing and place them back on the new. Seems the grape vine loves that certain spot and after years of trying to get it to grow in another area it has come back and is producing grapes. The biggest lesson here was what I thought was going to be an easy 2 day job ended up being a week. What I should have done was just build the permanent fence and gate as the temporary was more work than I envisioned. The best plan would have been leave the old bent gate up until I had the time and inclination to do the wooden farm fence. This temporary will have to stay up a lot longer due to the time and effort it took to get it up. At least it is wider, back more off the roadway thus safer.

The Inside

2006-07-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am taking 2 weeks off to do the inside of the addition and hopefully get a little garden out front. The big thing was what to do for a floor and fast so I can get back to painting. I settled on a latex concrete stain. The key was the acid treatment before it is applied and a consistent application, 2 things I did not do well. But it looks fine for what it is. I had thoughts of also cutting in groves so it looked like tiles but time took that out of the picture. I can always go back to do that. The other issue is making the old match the new, for now rugs hide those spots until I can get to them. The big task is hanging all the paintings. The walls are great as they are real wood so nailing is easy but the paintings are various sizes and shapes so I have less wall space than I have paintings. I am just putting them up for now and will arrange them later? I also need to figure out a crate to sit those in I cannot hang so I can rotate them as I feel like. I need to pick out a spot in the room to set up an easel and arrange how I will paint. I may use the area as the final painting area and do the designs and initial work upstairs in my office space. I like to work on the composition a while before I begin and make the initial drawings etc using my computer to test colors, shapes, and placement. A process I use now days compared to the older sketch book. Van Gogh would be surprised at how much I use the computer in my painting process. My old art teachers would gasp. But we are in the computer age and I intend on using it as I need especially selection of colors and viewing things close up for shapes, like the negative space we need to paint. Next project is a garden out front but it may not be in this 2 week time lot.

The Roof

2006-06-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

A good choice was the use of prefab roof trusses on the 'addition'. I had to get them from a company in Pervis, MS but it was well worth the trip in saving time and money. They each weighed only 90 lbs. So the 2 of us could raise them up in place using methods devised by the Ancient Egyptians. I left the inside open like a 'cathedral ceiling' making it necessary to plan the decking so it looked good. I used T-111, 4 inch separations, 5/8ths thick. A little thicker than necessary but the thinner panels seemed too thin for the adding on of the metal roof. I shopped around and actually saved enough money on the metal roof to pay for the staining and thicker decking. The roof is a light gray metal which actually reflects the colors of the environment, a little green from the trees, a little blue from the sky, and a little red from the sunset. From the ground it is difficult to even see the roof because of the slope it had to be made to, almost flat.

The ceiling is stained a walnut. The first batch was oil stain that made a mess and was hard to clean up. I switched to 'water clean up' stain. More or less a wood preservative with pigment added. It does not penetrate as well as the old fashion oil stain but looks fine when on and cleans up nicely. The problem was color match was off a lot so the wall panels, again T-111, 4 inch pattern but thinner than the roof decking. The color seemed to have a little too much yellow but now I am stuck with it. Inside the pieces match OK as the light is different than outside. The good news is both stains have added properties of UV protection, mold resistance, and water repellent. In case of flood.

Progress

2006-06-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

Although not as fast as I would like the 'addition' is coming along despite some minor set backs like the building supply running out of 2x4's. Yes a few shortages and a few lessons learned but we are moving along. I would change a few color choices and try to use 'water clean up' stains but all in all the 'addition' is about what I expected and needed to get back into a safe comfortable home where I can live and work. My work is art and painting mostly but for now the painting is 'house painting' until the place is done and I can finally get back to what I was doing before the storm. Seems like a never ending project. The 'Fig House' did sell so that is one less work project now. I can devote more time to my 'addition' but soon will have to help my daughter move to Metairie from Jackson, Ms where she has been since the storm. I am not looking forward to moving furniture again, I have been moving stuff for months now like pieces on a checker board. Keeping things here until I can put them there. After the 'addition' is finished I plan on getting rid of stuff and getting mats and pillows, no end tables or book shelves. Less furniture more cushions, maybe a tent in case I need to move on. A 'Hurricane Nomad'.

The Blazer

2006-05-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

I bought my 1987 Red Chevy Blazer in 1987. It was a great vehicle. I used it throughout those family years. Family trips to Florida, Boy Scout camping trips, canoeing, my son even got to use it through high school. I never sold it, as my intentions was when I had time to fully restore it. I parked it under a large Oak tree, cranking it up every few months and taking it out when I went canoeing. Finally I have been able to cut it out of the trees that crushed it during the storm. I am thinking of leaving it, a memorial of sorts to the frailty of human existence and the philosophy of do it now, which normally I follow. Had I restored it I would not have parked it under a large oak during a hurricane. At least the large oak is growing back and may make a nice place to hang a swing, when I finally get to remove the crushed Red Chevy Blazer.

The Addition

2006-04-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

I guess the sad thing is that I had to give up. Before the storm we had 5 people living at Fig House, if I return there will be only one. My 2 daughters have all settled in in new places, my son and his wife are now in his little house on the corner, Soloman the cat is a little confused but getting used to the new front porch at my son's place. I have to move on, Fig House is way too big for someone at my age wanting to slow down and smell the roses. Most of the repairs are going well and my son is listing it for sale. I have begun an addition at my cabin in the woods. Just an open room to use as an art studio, living room, office area, whatever I choose to do in a room 12 by 24 with wall to wall windows. The cabin was too small to have an art studio in it, so we remove the old garage doors and add a large room and I am settled in. No flooding and most of the large trees are gone so it should be relatively safe for storms. Only 35 miles from New Orleans but with all the traffic about an hour drive into the city when I have to go most weekends. I can stay with the kids when necessary but gas prices forced me to get a motorcycle for transportation. Just any excuse would have done, Honda Shadow Aero. Hope for good weather.
I will post the progress on the addition as it gets built and the sale of the Fig House too. Let's all hope this was the last of the mega storms to hit our area at least for many years to come.

Plumbing??

2006-03-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

Having the roof repaired and the electrical it was time to begin painting the walls inside. There were many little yellow spots on the walls and ceilings from water staining. As we painted halls and rooms the little spots reappeared? Finally my son decided to take a piece of wall down to see if the roof still leaked to discover that the iron water pipes were split at the junctions in several places. We did replace an out side drain under the house as it had split at the junction we just thought that it broke. Which it did but most likely from the strong winds picking up the house or shaking it too much. Now 2 bath room walls need to come down to dry out the wet spots and replace the plumbing. A call has been placed back to the insurance company to see if this will be covered. I can only imagine how the house shook, some pictures fell to the floor and a lot of the neighbors shingles broke into some windows and stuck deep into the ground. Seems as you try to rebuild more and more damage is discovered and more and more problems encountered with returning home.

Tags: Katrina
New Orleans

Electrical?

2006-03-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

I guess going without electricity for 5 months would seem silly if you told me that 6 months ago. But many here in New Orleans still do not have electricity and some may never get it. Fig House was spared direct water damage except it sat under the old house for 10 days or so and the electrical lines that were moved from the attic to the stringers under the house were all soaked and needed to be redone along with the entire service box as it was dated and needed replacing. Just $17,000 and 5 months later there is electricity again. Again though the wiring had to be placed under the house so if we flood again good luck. The roof has been repaired just $8,500 but actually in the next 5 years we would have had to get a new one anyway.
Progress is being made weekly as I travel back and forth from my cabin in the woods where I still repair and cut trees then to Fig House to do repairs and paint. We replaced some siding and repairing fences, at the rate we are going we hope to have most repairs done by June. By then I will have begun the final repairs to the cabin in the woods. I think I will stay there for the next hurricane season, no flooding and now no trees left to fall over.

Biding Time In Metry

2006-02-09T06:32:00.000-08:00

Initially I had no idea of all the devastation east of me. I put on blinders and went in each day to clean and secure Fig House and help my son with his little house on the corner. We had to climb the roofs of both houses and make needed repairs as both homes had holes in the roofs. His had a large tree branch sitting in his bath room. Fig House had many little holes from flying debris that stuck into the shingles. We worked around down power lines, large trees and lots of trash that floated around. Our thought was get a secure roof so no more water gets in, not knowing we would not have rain for weeks. A small blessing. The damage to both homes was not readily apparent. Although the corner house was just remodeled in August 2004 so it seemed to do better than the old Fig House. We took our time to be sure the patch would hold up in any thunderstorms and learned a lesson from my friend in Metairie. The nice patch I did there was removed by the Blue Roof repairmen and they placed a much less secure patch. They put nail holes into the tarp to the big hole in the roof so water just seeped in from the patch they made. From that lesson I was there when the Blue Roof people came to the two houses on fig Street and told them to place their bigger patch over the existing patches I made. I knew the double patch had a better chance than some poorly done blue roof. Making assumptions that the help given is competent is a wrong assumption. We worked on cleaning and securing as I helped friends in Metairie with repairs when I could not accomplish things at Fig House. Then we found out about the electric.

Fig House

2006-01-26T07:43:00.000-08:00

Finally using my friends house in Metairie as a base I snuck into see my home. Yes, snuck. I had to wait until the City said the French Quarter was open and told the National Guard at the entrance to the City on Metairie Road that I was going to a friends place in the French Quarter to help. I took the Interstate 10 and got off at Carrollton Ave. Dodging a lot of debris but few cars or people I made it to the house. I immediately began to clean up the trash and debris in the yard trying to make the front look like someone cared. The eerie thing was inside it looked like it did when we left but strange smells and funny bugs. We had 2.8 feet of water in the neighborhood, see the water marks on the picket fence. I first thought we were lucky as it seemed that when the electricity would be available we could come back. At that time all the utility poles were down in the street and the wires disconnected from the house. Large tree limbs were all around too. I just worked out side and moved the refrigerators to the back porch. All in all at that time I felt things were not that bad. The city was opening up neighborhoods by zip code and I thought they just forgot about our code, as it was over 2 months before they said 70125 was open. By then I did a lot of clean up. But I was in for a surprise about the utilities.

Tags:
Schwehm
Katrina

Metry

2006-01-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

I will now try to get back to my Katrina story. As we know I had a 'Plan B' which was to get my cabin on the North Shore fixed up so the family could live there pending repairs to the house in New Orleans but even the North Shore was devastated. So after 2 weeks away I took time to try to help my friend in Metairie. We drove from the cabin to her place off Metairie road. The water there was about 3 feet but had gone down by the time we could make it. Lucky for her no water got inside but there was a lot of tree damage. A large branch fell through the roof into a room. I was able the first day to cut and remove the branch and lightly patch the one foot hole in the roof, enough so the elements would not get in. One of the large problems was the neighborhood pets all seemed to find their way inside the house during the 10 days or so of flood waters. The entire house was full of mess. We could not stay overnight at first so we drove back to the cabin and called repairmen to meet us in Metairie for electrical and air conditioning work. It weather was hot and dry. The temperature was 97 degrees when I was on the roof cutting away tree limbs so air conditioning was a big priority. After a few days there helping clean, cut, repair I was able to finally get into the city to see my place.

Tags: Katrina, New Orleans

Disparity?

2006-01-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

Another Post-Katrina reality is the disparity between Louisiana and Mississippi in getting the Federal Government to respond. As people in Louisiana fight among themselves over race, removing washed away homes, dilapidated neighborhoods with no chance to recover and a large probability to flood over and over, the State of Mississippi had published a plan and gotten Congress to fund it. See this article for more details. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1137740314310670.xml
I am astonished that we who are trying to rebuild still try with all the turmoil and obstacles created by our leaders and those people who seem to think it is time to protest any progress rather than work together for a better place to live. New Orleans seems doomed to failure not because of the storm but because of the lack of effective leadership. We need to pull together and get America's support and not play race games, and blame the people who work hard for the problems created by social ills in the poor areas of the city. Those ills are created by those in that community not 'Uptowners'. Stop the blaming of others and get to fixing the problems.
Tags: Katrina, New Orleans

Sobering Figures

2006-01-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

Although this weblog is intended to allow me to vent about my personal experience with the storm I was startled to read in the morning paper these figures. It is sobering to realize how many families are affected. Each of those homes represent more than one person, so my story is not unique. My struggle is just one of many.

217,000: Louisiana homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
69,000: Mississippi homes destroyed by Katrina.
Compared to:
28,000: All homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
27,000: All homes destroyed by hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne in 2004.
Tags:

Katrina, New Orleans, Levees

The Lumber Jack

2006-01-14T03:54:00.000-08:00

Putting out my mind the images from the TV and getting right to work cutting trees and limbs gave me a goal to accomplish, albeit almost impossible without help and heavy machines. I went from sun up to sun down alone until my 2 daughters arrived to help. I would cut trees into manageable portions the size of a wheelbarrow so we could cart them to the front right of way for the parish to pick up. I did this a few days, enough so we could get down the driveway and around the cabin. I barely removed the 2 massive trees that leveled my Chevy Blazer, still today it is partially covered in trees. Too busy with other tasks now to even cut a path to the shed in the back. Lucky for me a Church friend stopped in and offered hot meals and a shower. His home was in a little better shape with electricity on. He also offered to allow my friend Alice to stay with his family while I roughed it out in the camper with no real electricity. We planned on checking on her home in Metairie in a few days after I got the electrical connection done to the cabin. I wanted to be sure I spent enough time at the cabin to have it habitable as we still did not know what lays ahead. I still have the image of the fire and water near Fig Street from CNN and did not know if my house in the city even stood.

Plan "B"

2006-01-13T06:38:00.000-08:00

Having seen the immense and widespread damage caused by Katrina's winds and high water first hand it took a while to re-think. The original plan of getting the family all huddled up in St. Tammany was not possible. We then decided on alternate routes back to New Orleans. I was going to head back to my cabin as soon as I obtained a chain saw and generator in Mississippi, which took a while to find. I would live in the camper while cutting my way through the downed trees. My son off to new friends in Carencro, La. One daughter staying in Jackson, another going to her friend's in River Ridge, La. My friend Alice will stay with a church family in Clinton, MS. It actually took a few days to get Plan B in effect, gas stations closed all over Mississippi, no generators to be found but Wal-Mart had a lot of chain saws, just no gas to run them. After a day or 2 of planning I ventured out from Clinton, stopping at a Kroger to gas up a few store bought cans for gasoline. I got a few days worth of food and off I went.
Trees, trees everywhere, no place to even walk up to the cabin. I had to cut a path just to try to get the generator close enough to the camper. It took the whole day to just get that accomplished, and pick up some meals Ready To Eat at the local POD. At least I felt I was accomplishing something rather than being huddled up in a motel room scared by news reports.

Huddled Up In Jackson

2006-01-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

Huddled up in a motel room in Jackson, Ms. with 8 people, 2 dogs, and 2 cats my son and I discussed plans. The media had us almost afraid to move, somewhat frozen in the barrage of images of our city flooded, in flames, and being looted. But we finally decided to first head out to my little cabin in the woods of St. Tammny Parish. We thought maybe we could get out of the motel and be closer to head into the city. We picked a day, Wednesday, September 7th to see what was up. We took some old friends from Slidell, La. who also wanted to check on their home. Getting gasoline was the biggest obstacle. We had to drive around to find an open station and plan on re-fueling to get back too. The trip there was a real eye opener. All the way from Jackson through Mississippi trees down, power lines down, and closed businesses. The storm did not stop creating damage it went on and on. Finally we arrived at my driveway but every tree on the 2 acre site was down or broken over. We could barley walk to the cabin but the roof was OK, some blown out windows and doors, no electrical connection, 2 large trees took off the electrical box. Lucky for me the small camper I had there was spared major damage, a few branches fell on and over it but it was standing up, not like my Chevy Blazer which was crushed by 2 large trees. My son took the friends to what was left of their home after 12 feet of water washed things around and returned to make more decisions. What next?
Tag: Katrina

Late August 2005

2005-12-29T07:12:00.000-08:00

This August was not that different from last except the final weekend. After trying to get a few things done at my little cabin on the North Shore I came to Metairie to help a friend with some plans to ride out the Hurricane. I left my son and daughter to secure our home at Fig Street. The big question at my friend's was what to do about the many large glass windows she had. After looking at prices of plywood and the cost to cover the 8 very large windows we decided the cost to replace may be less than the cost and work to cover them. We packed a few things and were waiting to head back to my cabin on the North Shore to ride out the storm. Later on that morning I was awaken from a short nap to learn the storm was very large and we had to evacuate earlier than we planned. I called my son and they had already packed and were leaving to head east on I-10. My friend Alice and I secured her cats and packed the 2 dogs in my truck supposedly to head to the cabin but the traffic was heavy and all directed west where we entered the Interstate so we were off to places unknown. After driving for a few hours I decided to call my daughter in Jackson. She was there for some temporary assignment from Memorial Hospital on Napoleon Ave. She said we could stop in at her hotel room to make other plans. I thought one night and we would be heading back home. Finally on the third day I saw views of my neighborhood from a helicopter filming a large fire two blocks from Fig House. I could just see the tops of the white picket fence standing inches above the flood water. I could not tell how deep or if the water made it inside the house. I think it was then I realized I needed a good plan to return.
Tag:Katrina, New Orleans

Vent-A-Lation

2005-12-29T06:56:00.000-08:00

A good friend decided I needed to vent more yet I felt I did not want to bother my friends with all the vent-a-lation I obviously need to do. Having been through several personal crises during my last 20 years or so I thought I was well prepared to take on one of the worlds worst disasters but things are bogged down and getting murky instead of getting cleared up and moving forward. Thus every little thing seems a lot bigger to me as the days slug along. A few of those things I will discuss here with myself and anyone nuts enough to stop in and read them. This will give me a place to vent and a place to look back next year when, as we all hope, things get better.
Tags: Katrina,New Orleans