First and foremost, I must say to everyone who has responded asking\r\nwhat they can do for us: stay in touch, and remember us in your\r\nprayers. We are actually quite happy right now, and doing very well\r\nas we start to resume our life. We truly appreciate all of the offers\r\nwe have received, and at times we may call upon our friends to help\r\nus. But right now, if you feel moved to try and help, please do so by\r\noffering contributions to either the Red Cross at\r\nhttp://www.redcross.org or to Catholic Charities, at\r\nhttp://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org. Those organizations are ready to\r\nuse your gifts to help the most needy survivors of this storm.\r\n\r\nToday (Thursday) was the beginning of some semblance of normalcy for\r\nus. The kids started school at St. Thomas More, a parish school here\r\nin Baton Rouge. We\'ve heard many good things about this school, so we\r\nare thrilled that they found room for our kids. One of Noel\'s\r\nclassmates, Jennifer (Burke) Harris recently moved to Baton Rouge and\r\nhas children there; two couples we know from New Orleans has relocated\r\nhere and are sending their children there. One of those couples has a\r\ndaughter in Carrie\'s class at Sacred Heart, so Carrie had one friend\r\nalready, which helped ease her transition.\r\n\r\nThis will be a change for the kids, and that\'s part of what we wanted\r\nfor them this semester. We had the option of busing Carrie to another\r\nSacred Heart school (associated with her school in New Orleans) in\r\nLafayette (about an hour away) where she could go to an all girls\r\nschool with many of her friends (at last count, over 100 of the 800 or\r\nso girls in her school were going there). But we decided not to; I\r\nfelt pretty strongly that this semester, she and Robert should stay\r\ntogether. And that meant CO-ED SCHOOLS!\r\n\r\nSo Carrie came home today talking about her new friends she met,\r\nincluding one boy named Landon. Brand new experience for her, meeting\r\na boy at school. And being the good Dad I am, I immediately teased\r\nher about her first boyfriend. She turned bright red and giggled.\r\nRobert reported how he and his friends created a \"boys club\" -\r\nsomething he wouldn\'t have thought of in a boys school.\r\n\r\nCarrie seemed very happy with her first day, Robert a little less so.\r\nBut its great for all of us to begin something resembling a normal\r\nschedule: wake up, eat breakfast (cereal out of glasses, since we\r\nhaven\'t gotten around to buying bowls yet - maybe tomorrow), and head\r\nto school.\r\n\r\nOf course, the day before (Wednesday) was the *really* interesting day....\r\n\r\nMy father, mother and brother-in-law and I left BR at 5:30 am to head\r\nback to our houses in New Orleans and see what we could find and\r\nsalvage.\r\n\r\nThe drive was pretty uneventful, if a little nerve wracking as we got\r\ncloser and closer, and wondered just what the hell we would find.\r\nRoads were packed with people doing the same as us, so the drive took\r\nabout twice as long as normal. By around 8:00 or so, though, we had\r\nmaneuvered about as close to Noel\'s parents house as we could - about\r\n2 1/2 blocks away. First thing I noticed was the hurricane damage:\r\nlots of trees down, but very few houses actually hit by the trees.\r\nAnd the trees that had remained standing had been largely stripped of\r\ntheir greenery. So, if you\'ve visited New Orleans, you may recall the\r\ntree lined streets with thick canopies offering lots of shade. Not\r\nanymore. Now you see largely barren trees offering little protection\r\nfrom the sun. Just a strange sight.\r\n\r\nBut trees weren\'t what stopped our progress in the car. The water\r\ndid. So, we donned our wading boots (up to our hips, for those of you\r\nlike me who have no idea what a \"wading boot\" is), and started wading\r\nin. Water in the middle of the street was probably 4 feet deep, which\r\nwould be up over the boots. And the water is some really really\r\nreally nasty stuff that you don\'t want to let touch your skin. So we\r\nwalked up on yards, through the remains of flower beds and\r\nlandscaping, trying to stay in the 1-2 foot water. Took about 10\r\nminutes or so to walk those 2 1/2 blocks and we finally got to Noel\'s\r\nparents house and found.....\r\n\r\nWater.\r\n\r\nActually, they had just a teeny tiny bit of water left. But the lines\r\non the walls indicated that they had about a foot or so at the highest\r\npoint. (We were there on Wednesday, after the flood waters had begun\r\nto subside). So most of the downstairs rugs and furniture were\r\nruined. But we began packing up stuff (clothes, photo albums, etc...)\r\nand hauling it out. Fortunately, we encountered a friend of the\r\nReymonds who had a canoe, which we used to move some of the salvaged\r\ngoods back to the cars.\r\n\r\nThen Trey and I headed off to our houses. First, we had to sweet talk\r\nthe National Guard who were blocking the bridge to cross over into New\r\nOrleans. It didn\'t take much talking, and that was reassuring - they\r\nwere really checking people, but being quite reasonable about the\r\nwhole situation.\r\n\r\nFirst, we were faced with the problem of getting into our\r\nneighborhood: the streets at the corners were flooded fairly deeply -\r\nwe could see dry ground maybe 50 feet away, but we first had to get\r\nfrom here to there. There on the street was an unattended canoe. We\r\nlooked left and right, and then took it. Crossed the first hurdle and\r\nthen started hoofing it.\r\n\r\nStill in the wading boots, which I might add are quite heavy, hot and\r\nuncomfortable.\r\n\r\nAfter walking two blocks into the neighborhood, dodging trees, power\r\nlines and phone lines, we encountered the next pool of water. We had\r\njust crossed the \"Metairie Ridge\" (the high point that never flooded)\r\nand were on the downslope towards our houses and into this nasty, vile\r\nwater.\r\n\r\nSome of our neighbors, who were long gone, had left their boats out to\r\nhelp anyone who came by. So we had a choice of another canoe, a\r\npirogue (something like a canoe but it looked pretty damn unstable,\r\nand I was sure I\'d flip it), and a sailboat. None were good choices,\r\nbut we grabbed the sailboat. I\'m still not sure if that was a good\r\nmove or not. We didn\'t have a paddle, but we had a long pole, so we\r\nstarted pushing and pushing. And it was damn hard work. And it was\r\nhot. And the water got deeper and deeper. First we stopped at Trey\'s\r\nhouse, and found he had about the same as his parents: almost no water\r\nleft, but about a foot at the peak of the flood. Then we moved on to\r\nmy house.\r\n\r\nI read a book about a year ago on the Lewis and Clark expedition, and\r\nfor a brief bit, I could imagine what that was like. Trey and I poled\r\nthrough the street. Water everywhere. But most impressively was the\r\nutter and complete silence. Next time you\'re outside, stop and\r\nlisten. Noise - cars, air conditioners, whatever. Even if its not\r\nloud, its the background noise of society. As we poled, there was\r\n*nothing*. It was just silence, except for the noise we made.\r\n\r\nAnd also except for the helicopters that periodically buzzed by, and\r\nonce started hovering over us making me fear that they were going to\r\ntry and save us. That\'s the last thing I needed - show up on the\r\nevening being saved from my house...\r\n\r\nBut, we finally (remember, I said the poling was difficult, and I\'m\r\nnot kidding - took us probably 15 minutes of hard work to maneuver\r\nthis sailboat the 1 1/2 blocks from Trey\'s house to mine) rounded the\r\nlast corner and saw my house.\r\n\r\nRemember how in an earlier email, I hopefully reported that we might\r\nnot have much water because I could see my car in a satellite image?\r\nBoy, was I wrong.\r\n\r\nWe still had 2 feet of water in the house, and the high water mark was\r\nprobably at least 3 feet. Everything downstairs is undoubtebly shot,\r\nbut the upstairs was in *great* shape. The hurricane did almost no\r\ndamage to the house - one tree branch fell and took out the railings\r\nof the porch outside, but no problems inside. Except for 3 feet of\r\nputrid stinky filthy water, that is... :)\r\n\r\nBut we were able to retrieve a couple of suitcases of clothes, and\r\nsome toys for the kids. Each kid gave me a list of some things they\r\nwanted. Carrie picked some dolls and doll clothes and books. Robert\r\npicked one of his favorite toys and (my personal favorite): his\r\ncollection of 15 king cake babies that he\'s accumulated over the\r\nyears. He\'s definitely a Mardi Gras lover! So I got those things.\r\nThen we started taking artwork off the walls. We took as many\r\npaintings and prints as we could, to try to save them from mold\r\ndamage.\r\n\r\nThose of you who know Noel won\'t be surprised to know that she had\r\ngiven me a fairly specific list of goods to get from her closet - not\r\njust \"shoes\" but \"the black shoes with the green straps\"; not just\r\n\"black dress\" but \"black cocktail dress with the square patterns\".\r\nAnd I really tried to find what she wanted. But - in a dark closet\r\nwith no lights except one flickering flashlight, and sweat dripping\r\ndown my face (did I mention yet that it was damn hot and we had\r\nforgotten our bottles of water back in the car?), black looked just\r\nlike black looked just like brown. So I just started grabbing enough\r\nstuff to fill a suitcase. I think I got a couple of pairs of pants\r\nthat she wanted, and one pair of shoes. Not too good with the tops,\r\nthough, I was later told.\r\n\r\nSo, we balance all of this precariously on the sailboat, which is now\r\ntaking on water through the hole in the bottom where the centerboard\r\nwould be if we were really sailing. And we started to leave. I tried\r\nto close the door to the house behind me, but couldn\'t - the wood was\r\nso swollen that it wouldn\'t even come close to closing. When I opened\r\nit, I had to bang with my shoulder several times to move it, so I\r\nwasn\'t exactly surprised.\r\n\r\n(When I got home and told Noel that I didn\'t close or lock the door,\r\nshe asked whether I turned on the alarm. I stared at her for a\r\nminute, before politely reminding her that we hadn\'t had power for 10\r\ndays, and likely wouldn\'t for another month, so I didn\'t think the\r\nalarm would work anymore.)\r\n\r\nWith an awkwardly overloaded sailboat more and more rapidly taking on\r\nwater, we started to head back to dry ground to unload the goods.\r\nThank god we then encountered my father-in-law who had found a real\r\nflatboat and had rowed out to meet us. So we transfered the suitcases\r\nto the more stable boat, as I watched and feared that we\'d drop what I\r\nso carefully salvaged. But all was transfered without problem, and we\r\nrowed/poled back towards Trey\'s house. And I might add for those of\r\nyou who may face a similar situation: rowing a flatboat is one hell of\r\na lot easier than poling a sailboat.\r\n\r\nSo the basic story repeats again, as we salvaged stuff from another\r\nhouse and rowed back to dry land. Thank goodness, my father-in-law\r\nsweet talked the National Guard some more, and was able to maneuver\r\nhis SUV through some shallower water to get into the neighborhood, and\r\nmet us. Otherwise, we\'d have had to haul a dozen heavy suitcases\r\nabout a half mile, including possibly another rowboat stint with them.\r\n And have I mentioned that it was hot as Hades?\r\n\r\nBut anyway, despite what I saw in our house, I\'m happy. We found some\r\nof the toys that the kids really wanted, and they were thrilled. Noel\r\nand I retrieved some clothes, which removes one extra chore for the\r\nimmediate future. We (hopefully) have saved some of the artwork which\r\nwe probably couldn\'t have afforded to replace immediately. And we at\r\nleast get the satisfaction of knowing what we face. And what we face\r\nis not insurmountable. I truly think that our house will be\r\nsalvageable. I don\'t think it will be easy, but folks we\'ve talked to\r\nsay its certainly possible - remove all of the walls and insulation,\r\nlet the studs dry, treat them, and then rebuild.\r\n\r\nOr, we tear the whole thing down and build from the ground up.\r\n\r\nWho knows? Certainly not I. Not yet.\r\n\r\nBut, today we\'re pretty damn sure that we are going to go back to New\r\nOrleans. The kids schools (in New Orleans) are talking about opening\r\nin January; we think we may rent Noel\'s sister\'s one bedroom apartment\r\nstarting in January, while we start remodeling or rebuilding. Yes, a\r\n1 bedroom would be cramped, but I think housing is going to be scarce\r\n- even more scarce than it is in Baton Rouge right now. Plus, it just\r\nhappens to be along the main Mardi Gras parade route. And YES, I\r\nthink all of us are expecting there to be a Mardi Gras this year.\r\nPerhaps not like the ones in years past, but definitely *something*.\r\n\r\nWe\'d love to have guests next Mardi Gras. If you\'re willing to\r\nsqueeze into a 1 bedroom apartment with our family, we\'d love to have\r\nyou!\r\n\r\nI feel that tomorrow is really the first normal day of the rest of our\r\nlives. Wake up, get the kids to school, and sit down and work. Seems\r\nlike a damn long time since I\'ve done that...\r\n\r\nTake care everyone, and stay in touch!