Fountainbleu State Park

A few months ago we biked the Tammany Trace from Lacombe to Fountainbleu State Park in Mandeville. The park was closed for nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina due to extensive damage.

The park itself looks great. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of trees lost in the storm, but the two years since the storm has allowed for underbrush to fill in and the regrowth of pole pines.

click on pictures for full size versions




Some new additions Post Katrina are the cabins that are on the lake which can be rented for $90/night.



This is where we will spend our summer vacation in a few weeks, thanks to the high price of gas.

There's also a fantastic pier that can be used for fishing,contemplation or just enjoy the breezes coming of the lake.



Notice the new pavillion to the left.




What was shocking was the amount of wetland loss. Unless visitors to the park take the hiking or biking trails, it's not evident. But if you walk the boardwalk that juts out into Lake Pontchartrain it's extremely obivious. Here are pictures of the same area taken in 2004 and then in 2008:



2004



2008



2004



2008

The park is full of wildlife, a rebuilt beach, a kiddies area with swings and jungle gyms and plenty of other places to enjoy a weekend day with family or friends.

Katrina vs the Midwest Floods

From a Mississippi blogger, her take on people trying to compare the aftermath of Katrina to the latest flooding up north


I think a lot of people still have no idea of the amount of destruction Hurricane Katrina did. FEMA made it to the Mississippi Coast a lot faster than I would have expected. The situation in New Orleans was different. To me, it wouldn't have made sense to try bring in truckloads of water and food to a city that was being evacuated, especially from the RealClear Poltics article you linked to which showed the National Guard had the necessary items on hand.



read the entire piece at the link above.

New Orleans Post K

Lord David over at Humidcity dot com has penned a wonderful piece about what makes New Orleans a special place.

Here's an excerpt:

So how do I feel about New Orleans post-K?
It was a gift from heaven.
A gift of truth.
A vision of community so vested in each other that material things mattered noticeably less, & there was that glint in the eyes of complete strangers that told you they were strangers no more.

Life goes on.
New Orleans goes on.
It lives and breathes like a leviathan in the swamp.
Old worldly, decidedly unsober, mannered in it’s own lingo, beautiful, decrepit and wildly free.

Learning from the Past (Hurricane Season)

Found a wonderful post about hurricane season here that was cross posted in Humid City.

Here's an excerpt:
Here’s the deal. Today is the first day of hurricane season and it’s like some invisible demon has shot a starter pistol off into dogbreath blue sky signaling the Olympic Games of Organized Neurosis to hereby officially begin. It’s a stressful time of year, for sure.


Back before the big storm, hurricane season could be nerve-racking at times – but there was a kind of camaraderie about it, an almost jovial good sportsmanship associated with that universal fear of the so-called big one, a certain comfort in the comfortable uncertainty of how it might play out. We were only guessing then, and the guessing felt like a game.


Now it’s different. We’ve all seen how this shit plays out for ourselves, up close and personal. Now we know how very fucked up things can get around here. There’s not a whole lot left to guess about.


I’ve noticed that the biggest difference between now and then is not the weather, but our collective state of mind. Remember back in the day, when Ivan or Georges or Isabelle or whatever one-eyed shitfuck had to crawl so far up the radar that it was breathing down our necks before we even got the tiniest bit antsy about it? That was really not a bad way to go. Nowadays, everyone shifts way down low into mental meltdown mode as soon as the tiniest swirling bit of goo forms off the coast of Africa. It’s really ridiculous, but we all watch this shit like hawks now, as if such obsession can possibly do anyone any good at all.

Social Commentary

Two great blog posts about what's on a lot of peoples' minds: the crime problem and some of the issues that are contributing it.

Cliff writes about the evolution of youth in his blog:
These youngsters are not doing anything we didn’t do when we wore our Ninth Ward hats and had beef with the cats back of town at the house parties. They just have AK-47’s at their disposal.

Mark Folse blogs about growing up on the other end of town

I don’t know how to change this anymore than I know how to take all the folks in Lakeview or Metairie (some my oldest friends) and shake the ingrained racism out of them.

Both are well thought out posts and are worth reading.

A dynsasty of scuzzbuckets

New Orleans tax assessor Betty Jefferson, her brother, Mose Jefferson, and her daughter, Angela Coleman, appeard in court Friday on charges that include federal program fraud, identity theft and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They are accused pocketing more than $600,000 in state and federal grant money intended for charitable and educational projects.


 The federal indictment of Assessor Betty Jefferson, 70, her brother, Mose Jefferson, 66, and her daughter, Angela Coleman, 53, accuses the trio of stealing public housing and education funds — starting before she was first elected to the office more than a decade ago.

Brenda Jefferson Foster - the youngest sister of embattled U.S. Rep. William Jefferson - plead guilty yesterday to helping her family skim money from Jefferson family non profits. A summary of the government’s case against her, which she signed, says she knew of and participated in various schemes being carried out by relatives who are now facing corruption charges. Brenda Jefferson also said that two of her family members charged in the charity scandal made out checks to her from the charities’ accounts, then forged the endorsement and deposited the money in their own accounts.


Archie and Mose Jefferson
Mose Jefferson called his sister Brenda and tried to meet with her after learning she agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors; Archie Jefferson also called Brenda after the guilty plea to set up a meeting with her.

Now a second generation of Jefferson is getting into the "family business">


From a LexisNexis News story:
Records show that between 1994 and 2006, the state of Louisiana contributed at least $5.5 million to three of the groups: Care Unlimited, Orleans Metropolitan Housing and Central City Adult Education. Most of the money was earmarked by then-state Rep. Renee Gill Pratt (longtime girlfriend of Mose Jefferson), a protege of the congressman, and her successor, Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, the congressman's daughter. Jefferson-Bullock is no longer in office.

For example $176,029 of a $178,000 grant to Care Unlimited that was supposed to be used to train and counsel at-risk black males was improperly diverted. So was an entire $25,000 grant to Orleans Metropolitan Housing that was supposed to buy equipment to clean Central City. And $71,447 of a $100,000 grant for pregnant teens ended up enriching the defendants, according to prosecutors.

The money intended for what sounded like worthwhile causes. The grants called for helping pregnant teenagers, at-risk youth and adults and high school dropouts who are trying to pass the GED, among others.

In many cases, though, the indictment says that the programs were simply shams. A Care Unlimited report that claimed to have provided certified teachers for 25 pregnant teenagers, for example, didn't do so, the indictment said. The person that supposedly provided the teachers did not work for the charity, the indictment said, and two-thirds of the grant money went to Betty Jefferson and her daughter.




Bill Jefferson's shenanigans are not news to us. Starting right before Hurricane Katrina, his sleazy past came home to roost:


Prosecutors say that Jefferson used his influence as co-chairman of the Congressional Africa Investment and Trade Caucus to broker the deals and that he demanded kickbacks for himself and his family. He is also charged with bribing a Nigerian official.

Jefferson reportedly received more than $500,000 in bribes and demanded millions more from 2000 to 2005. Federal Bureau of Investigation videotaped Mr. Jefferson picking up a $100,000 bribe in 2005 from an informer in a hotel parking garage. Two days later, agents from the bureau raided Mr. Jefferson’s house in Washington and found $90,000 in a box in his freezer.

And now this man is brazen enough to run for a 10th term in congress.

Scuzzbucket of the Week

From One Big Dog dot net this man has an ego bigger than Rush Limbaugh. A lot of NOLA bloggers tried to set this mook straight, but he wouldn't budge. Just an idiot who hates New Orleans, I guess

Why No Katrina Stories From Iowa?
Posted at 14:06 by Big Dog in Political
There is terrible flooding in Cedar Rapids Iowa and Des Moines is under a voluntary evacuation order as rivers swell and rise to the tops of levees. Cedar Rapids is under water and 15 people have died as a result of the flooding. Of course this story has been in the news but I can’t help but wondering where all the network trailers are. I can’t help wondering where FEMA is and where are all the protesters demonstrating against perceived government inaction on this one?

Also, where are all the dead bodies floating around while hoodlums roam the streets shooting at people and looting stores?

What is it about this storm that is at least as bad, if not worse, than Katrina that has left us without stories of devastation caused by the government’s failure to swoop in and help people? Why don’t we have music stars on TV holding a telethon to raise money while they proclaim that George Bush hates white people?

Why is it that teen aged boys, members of the Boy Scouts, were able to respond immediately to render first aid to the injured and dig out those trapped in the rubble when adults in New Orleans seemed incapable of helping themselves?

Perhaps this goes back to the thoughts I had about dependence on government. Those in New Orleans have ridden the back of government programs for so long they did not know how to care for themselves. The leadership they needed from state and local politicians was non existent with the governor crying and the mayor lying in the fetal position sucking his thumb on the upper floors of a hotel. The people were ill prepared because their leadership was ill prepared.

Certainly there was blame at the federal level and things could have run more smoothly but there is no battalion of federal employees traipsing around Iowa and they seem to be surviving.

It all comes down to people taking responsibility for one’s own life and helping others in need.

My prayers are with those folks in Iowa affected by this terrible storm. Thanks goodness they had the ability to fend for themselves or the death toll could have been much higher.


Katrina was more than a rain overflowing levees, sir. Katrina was devastating.
(click photo for larger image)



a few days later da big dog writes

felt sorry for the people when this happened but to tell the truth I am tired of hearing all the whining about it from those living there. They have enough time to type on their computers perhaps they should spend it working. I know 90% of the people got out and did what is right and it might seem unfair for me to paint with a broad brush based on the 10% who did not. However, a lot of people certainly painted the government with a broad brush based on the failure of about 10% of the people. No other state affected by Katrina is getting rebuilt any faster and I don’t hear them crying. I did not hear them then.

Here is my plan for New Orleans. Bulldoze the place in. Fill it wil concrete or dirt. It would be best if they dug a ditch across the southern border and pushed all the dirt into New Orleans and let the water back fill the ditch. Fill the ditch with alligators and that will keep the ILLEGAL immigrants down. Filling in New Orleans will keep it from getting flooded again. Then, they can build a city inland where it is above sea level.

Other than that, I don’t want to hear about all their problems. I did not cause them and about now I don’t care about them..

Well Mr. Big Dog, we really don't care about you either. Nah Nee Nah Nee Boo Boo!! Woof Woof.

Here are link to blogger reactions to this mook:

Here's a link to another take on the comparison of the Iowa floods to New Orleans after Katrina

Mark Folse cites REAL facts about Katrina

Flooding

Wishing all those involved in the flooding up north the best. I'm sorry that you have to deal with FEMA and Bush. If you need advice, ask anyone here who's gone thru what you are currently experiencing.

There were buildings that no one thought would even get water in their basements that now have water damage on the SECOND floor." He said it's "amazing" that the flood hasn't caused any deaths or serious injuries -- at least so far.



The federal government predicted that a total of 27 levees could potentially overflow along the river if the weather forecast is on the mark and a massive sandbagging effort fails to raise the level of the levees, according to a map obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The breached levee meant there were 26 more that could burst.

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The American Red Cross has used up its national disaster relief fund and is borrowing money to be able to provide relief and assistance to Midwest flood victims.

Red Cross officials estimated it would need between $15 million to $40 million for the relief efforts, with the figure gravitating toward the higher end if St. Louis would be flooded by Mississippi River waters. "http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main"> Make your donation here

Thanks, Ray

Ray in New Orleans links to an article in which the producer of the TV series "the Wire" talks about his correspondence with the late, GREAT Ashley Morris

FYYFF

YOU SONS OF BITCHES. YOU SELFISH, SINGLE MINDED, OUT FOR THE MONEY BASTARDS

apparently the douchebags that "work" at the state capitol in Baton Rouge refuse to accept that fact that they are working FOR us.

It is time to vote these "good old boys and girls" out with finality. I am so very disappointed that Bobby Jindal apparently lacks the cojones to be a real leader.

Sure, the so called political pundits in the NOLA blogsphere have been trashing Jindal since he started running for office. I'm sure they're grinning big time now.
But now is NOT the time to sit back and feel good for the fact that your "predictions" have come true.

Louisiana voters, you are being screwed once again. It's time to oust these bastards, to let them know that things have changed. Katrina did NOT happen for no reason. Katrina happened to cause change, change for the good of this gret state.

In 2005 the state of Pennsylvania was in the same boat we are that we are at this very moment. From the much beloved wikipedia article:


Anger over the raise spawned several grass-roots movements, some geared toward voting out incumbents....and some seeking support for a Constitutional Convention or a reduction in the size of the legislature.

On November 16, 2005, Governor Rendell signed a repeal of the pay raise after a near unanimous vote for repeal; only House Minority Whip Mike Veon voted against the repeal.

Despite the repeal, a total of 17 legislators were defeated in the 2006 primary elections including Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer and Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill. They were the first top-ranking Pennsylvania legislative leaders to lose a primary election since 1964.

The November 2006 General Election claimed several more members who supported the pay raise including Reps. Gene McGill, Mike Veon, Matt Wright, Tom Gannon and Matthew Good.[4] The defeats were widely attributed to anger over the pay raise.


It's time for people to stop chomping on their poboys and drinking their beers long enough for them to let these "lawmakers" know that we are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore

From Cliff's Crib ...the sponsor of this bill is Senator Ann Duplessis. I heard her say on the radio today that the pay raise is needed because of all the time spent trying to open Charity Hospital and other hospitals around the city and in her district. Well, I live and drive through her district everyday. I have long given up on reading about plans for future development in the city. I judge everything by what I can see with my own two eyes because around here if you can’t see it then you can’t say it’s coming. With that in mind, I not only think Senator Duplessis shouldn’t get a pay raise. She should send everyone in her district a check for 500.00 with an apology for the lack of recovery.

Greg Peters puts his finger right on where our gov-nah is at .


It's important. Take action. Do it as a tribute to Ashley's life

Creole Tomatoes and More

This is my favorite time of year: when the abundance of Louisiana's spring and summer crops is at its zenith. My daughter attends culinary school and hubby and I are foodies, so we absolutley enjoy soaking up all of the fresh produce and ideas on how to eat them every day.

Saturday was a day filled with celebration of the fruits of Southeast Louisiana's earth. We checked out both the newest and the oldest Farmers' Markets in the area.

First we hit the Slidell Farmers' Market and were not disappointed. The quantity and quality of the local vegetables is happily top knotch.

click on pictures for full-sized versions



[no, the beer didn't come from the farmers market :)]

There is also a variety of prepared foods, such as the Meditteranean offerings



The market's open every Saturday from 8 AM. Check it out.


Left to right: Tabolleh, marinated leeks, sundried tomato pesto and Meditteranean lima beans. Unbelievably fresh and delicious.

From Slidell to the nation's oldest city market, we headed for the 22nd annual Creole Tomato Festival



We ate our way from the Farmers' Market to the U.S. Mint and back: crab balls with remoulade sauce, fried catfish, gumbo, tacos, creole tomatoes over jasmine rice, mango freeze, and creole tomatoes with boiled shrimp in Cousins' Creole Tomato dressing Incredible food. We neglected to take pictures this year of everything we ate.

The 2nd annual New Orleans Seafood Festival was held at the U.S. Mint. We hit this venue early to avoid the crowds and the heat of the sun. We were lucky enough to catch Chef Randy Cheramie from the John Folse Culinary Institue at Nichols State University. He's one of my daughter's teachers so she was adamant about seeing him. I'm glad we did because he is a great chef and a wonderful presenter (I guess it helps that he majored in performing arts in college).


He demostrated shrimp creole which looked delicious. Unfortunately we didn't get a sample of this dish.

From there we wandered thru the French Market to catch Susan Spicer's demo. Unfortunately she couldn't show up, but her chef de cuisine at Bayona Restaurant, Jeremy Greshem did. He prepared and Italian Bread Salad with fresh Mozzarella. THAT we did taste and it was good.


Here he is demonstrating how to make fresh mozzerella

From there we caught two chefs from Dickie Brennan's Steak House,


Jack Martinez and his sous chef Alfred Singletary doing White Bean & Creole Tomato salad. Delectable!


The final chef demo we watched was Chef Dominique Maquet of Dominique's on Toulouse. He did the most sumptuous gazpacho with conch. I now have a new "gotta buy" cookbook on my list His food is fresh and delicious.

From there we got our five pounds of Becnel Creole tomatoes


and happily headed home with our heads filled with the many ways we will cook and eat them!!!