Finally, we head to nola

Sorry that this will have to be very snappy. In exactly 3 hours, Shaw, our neighbor Terry, and I will begin the drive into nola to see what's what. I am alternately hopeful and terrified. All abstractness (is that a word?) will become reality soon. We have the car packed with about 20 gallons of water, food for three days, every cleaning supply, mask and glove known to mankind (not really) and plenty of chocolate, cookies, wine and bourbon in case the scene is too depressing. We even have a hand truck (dolly) to move the refrigerators outside to clean them.

The mayor says you can bathe and wash in the water now. The postings on the uptown bulletin boards on the nola website either agree strongly or disagree strongly. But it will hopefully be good enough to hose out the refrigerator. By the way, there are a lot of valuable posts on the bulletin boards, and also some kooky people from who knows where bloviating about their opinions of FEMA, the mayor, what went wrong, etc. etc. Of course there are also people posting who appear never to have actually been to New Orleans.

I have a question. How do maggots and insects get into the fridge? How do they get through the seal? During our dinner conversation tonight (yes, perfect for dinner) folks said that the eggs are already in the food -- they just don't do anything because they are refrigerated. Are you kidding?? I'm not that squeamish, but I guess I'm still surprised. I know that fruit flies lay eggs in fruit when it's sitting out on the counter and such, but our packaged food comes pre egged?? I suppose it's possible. Anyway, I plan to stand way back and aim a hose at the emptied interior.

There is some concern right now about law enforcement. Apparently, there is far less military presence currently in the city, and reports again vary on whether this is an issue or not. But I sure wish that there were still people doing serious law enforcement. There are still so many folks not back in town.

But happily, there is also lots of news that businesses are up and running in our neighborhood-- even gas nearby! -- and that my idea of ice cream when we get back is not that far fetched! That's the hopeful part.

So, keep us in your thoughts, and when we come back to our home base here in Birmingham in a few days to pick up the cats and return for good, or to stay away a bit longer depending on what we find, I will post again to let you know how things went.