Are you listening, Governor?

How is Bobby Jindal going to convince people in Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, Florida, and all those other struggling states to vote for the man that chose not to accept money design to help struggling working people in his state even though their tax dollars were paying for it regardless? I don’t think many people want that guy in a time of crisis like this.


Read the rest at Cliff's blog here

Sad Anniversary

It was a year ago today that NOLA Blogger Ashley Morris passed away, leaving a huge hole in the hearts of many.

He left behind a beautiful young wife and three small children.

I never met him personally, but Ashley touched everyone who read his blog or emailed him in a big way. He had a love for life and New Orleans and he'll never be forgotten.


"

It's Still There

Tim, over at the Nameless Blog, reflects on the post Katrina condition that sometimes grabs us by the heart when we discuss our experiences:

I can feel tears in my eyes and a crack beginning to develop in my own voice that tells me something I did not know. I did not know I am still sad about this. I am still sad that the life we once knew is gone. Dead and gone and buried in the dirt and silt of a flooded house, and a mud-caked neighborhood.

Read the full post, "A Crack in My Voice" here .

Scuzzbucket

Neel Borsch



from it's website:


We've all be watching the drama from Fargo, North Dakota. Floods are bad enough, but when you have to deal with those floods in -11 degree temperatures I would imagine it is almost unbearable.

OK .. now for the insensitive thought. Let's keep some score. Let's see how well the residents of Fargo handle this disaster vs. the residents of New Orleans. The parasite quotient in New Orleans gives a huge lead to the denizens of the frozen north. I'm guessing that three and one-half years from now you will not see many Fargo residents living in motels as guests of the taxpayers.

Just go on and stir that pot, Neel. And your commenters, my what a bunch of frozen tundra boors. Maybe that's why they relate to Borsch.

some excerpts


We were flooded much worse than New Orleans and we helped one another out and life went on. It is funny how that works.

~

Now, I'm no defender of NO, no way. I was a responder and they sickened me and I got to the point that I wished they'd all just drown already and be rid of them BUT there is a world of difference in their ability to prepare in these places.

~

Has anyone taken a head count of volunteers from New Orleans going up to help out with the sandbagging operation?
I haven't heard of any busloads of Katrina "victims" going north to return the favor.



From First Draft, a great comment

Boortz is a Cat5 hurricane on the Homer-Simpson scale of storm stupidity.

What it was like

Hurricane coverage took over local TV completely. I watched the aerial footage of jammed Interstate Highways, lines of vehicles barely moving, the procession extending as far as the cameras could see. The affluent and upscale people were finding their exodus out of harms way a trek and ordeal. One family, very yuppie, a couple with two children, two small yappy dogs and a late model SUV were bemoaning their personal misery as it took them over 9 hours to reach Baton Rouge, only to find every motel and hotel locked solid or commandeered by emergency personnel. In retrospect I am more inclined to laugh at their plight and feel little sympathy for them. Considering all that followed, they didn’t know what suffering was.

In my third floor ‘ye olde urban slum’ apartment at the rundown ‘Rebel Arms’, at 1005 Decatur, I did what I could to prepare myself and my neighbors. We could not buy those ‘emergency supplies’ newspeople urge people to get in such situations. The local Wallgreens and small grocery stores that are in the French Quarter all considerately ‘closed for the duration’ 24 hours before the storm arrived.........

for the whole story, go here

Bayou Liberty Spring

During our "running around" yesterday, hubby and I decided to take Bayou Liberty Road home. I rarely take this way because of the construction on the new bridge. It's a little annoying to sit for five minutes or more, waiting for the light to turn so that you can go on your way.

All of the rains that we experienced last week has caused some localized flooding as evidenced by these pictures.
click on pictures for larger versions










You can see the old and new bridges in this photo. The newer bridge - the cause of all of the traffic jams - is s l o w l y progressing.


I know I'm not alone in saying that I will sorely miss this image.



You can see the water has creeped onto the road at the foot of the old bridge.

Back at home, my decapitated baby cypress is blooming into a beautiful umbrella tree

Save this date

Saturday, May 16th


Photography done by Ellis Anderson, Dawn Stoltz and Joe Tomasovsky of Bay St. Louis.

Ellis has a well-written, riveting account of her Katrina experiences at this website .

Only in Louisiana

Finally, nearly four years post Katrina, we have the closure of the MRGO. It will celebrated with the "Close MRGO Rock Throwing Ceremony".

From the TP

The closing of the controversial Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet in St. Bernard Parish will be marked in a unique way Saturday: with the casting of stones.

Government officials, conservationists and residents will pile into boats and head out to Bayou La Loutre, where everyone will get the chance to chuck rocks into the waterway at the spot where it is being plugged.

click on photos for larger versions


Image courtesy of Times Picayune graphics.

The ceremony is sponsored by St. Bernard Parish government, the St. Bernard Parish Sportsmen's League, the St. Bernard Coastal Advisory Committee and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.

"It'll be a different way to express a little relief, " Carlton Dufrechou, executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation said with a chuckle. "Old-timers have been talking for years of just blocking it with rocks. So this is for them."

The shipping channel, also known as MR-GO, was built in the 1960s as a shortcut from the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. It has taken the brunt of criticism in St. Bernard Parish, the Lower 9th Ward and some parts of eastern New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina's deadly flooding in 2005. Although the Army Corps of Engineers has said the channel had minimal impact on flooding, the MR-GO became increasingly unpopular in St. Bernard Parish after the hurricane.

In January, Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co. of Pine Bluff, Ark., began erecting a rock structure across the channel. The structure's base will be 450 feet wide, tapering to 12 feet at the top. It will be 950 feet long and will jut 7 feet from the water's surface. The structure will consist of 430,000 tons of rock and cover 10 acres of the channel bottom.

Some of the rock used for the structure will come from the jetties that extend from the MR-GO into Breton Sound.

In late February, the work was almost 15 percent complete. Full closure is scheduled by July.




As humorous as this celebration sounds, it represents another step further away from the damages caused by Katrina.

from Wikipedia: Levees along MR-GO were breached in approximately 20 places along its length, directly flooding most of Saint Bernard Parish and New Orleans East. Storm surge from MR-GO is also a leading suspect in the three breaches of the Industrial Canal

Click here for a great intereactive graphic created by the TP showing how Katrina flooded southeast Louisiana.

Water, Water, Everywhere

Fargo, North Dakota - March 2009

found at this website

It's the season of the Spring floods.


In Woolwich, Maine. Breaking up ice on the 149-mile-long Kennebec River to minimize flooding is a rite of spring. The goal is to break up ice to prevent jams that can cause floods.

Earlier this week, residents in northwestern Ohio saw creeks and rivers flood after heavy storms.



About 50 families had to evacuate their homes in Defiance, and Maumee floodwaters washed into the town hall, restaurants and a few antique stores in Grand Rapids.



My thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected as the record snowfall from winter 08-09 melts and wreaks havoc. Believe me, people down here know what you're going thru.

2009 JazzFest Cubes

Go here and use the pulldown menu under Music Schedule to view the music by stage/time

Laissez les bontemps roullez

Spring 2009

Friday was the first day of Spring and the weather was all about spring: low humidity, cool breezes and nighttime temperatures in the 50's. You couldn't order better weather. Hubby and I spent the whole weekend sprucing up the yard (actually, I was in a supporting role, he did all of the big stuff) after a short but miserable winter. Coming out of Gustav and Ike, the yard was in pretty bad shape.
Click on pictures for larger size



One of our cypress trees was topped by a neighbor's tree during Gustav(which also took out two fences....we're still waiting for him to fix it). This little tree his blooming and we couldn't be happier!



The entire backyard was covered with this blanket of sticky weed. After pulling it all up, I ended up with two trashcans of the weed.





Looking up into the blue skies, it's hard to miss the legacy of Katrina's trees. I'm surprised these twisted messes are still standing, let alone sprouting new growth.



Our wild irises are blooming quite nicely.



Even our 13 year old cat ventured out today to soak up some of the warm sunshine.


A view from my patio at 9 this morning. Today was the third day in a row with this great weather. We enjoy spring so much down here because it's short and usually followed by months of 90 plus degree weather and that damn humidity.

But I wouldn't live anywhere else.