b.rox

Against all odds, we recovered the following items:

It hit a low of 44¬?F here in Bloomington yesterday. The high? 67¬?.
Yes, it gets that cold in New Orleans. Colder even. For a few days. In January. Not at the end of September.
This is why I don’t think I can move back to the Midwest.

I’ve posted a bunch of pictures from the trip Michael and I made to New Orleans a few days ago. I’ve put ‘em all in this set.

Mostly I took pictures of my home and possessions, for insurance purposes, but I did take a few pix of more general interest around town.

I didn’t take nearly as [...]

Holy — Mayor Nagin announced that the whole city of New Orleans, except for the Lower 9, will be open by Wednesday, October 5! That’s just a few days away.
My neighborhood still won’t have potable water or electricity or any basic services — but at least I wouldn’t have to sneak in to get to [...]

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Originally uploaded by Michael Homan.

Michael took a great picture of me standing next to all the soggy, nasty junk we pulled out of the flooded lower floor of my house.

There’s a new report on nola.com from the City of New Orleans, breaking down the status of sections of the city by ZIP code. My neighborhood’s in 70119. Here’s the rundown:
Sewer: East Bank sewer system is inoperative
Water: Water for fire protection only – not potable
Electricity: Assessment 75% complete
Gas: Assessment 100% complete
Debris: Phase 1 Completed
Medical: E. [...]

As we head north on I-55, I’m thinking of all the stuff I still need to do with my house in New Orleans:
Need to clean out the back room downstairs, which we called the craft room. It’s a terrible mess. We had to break the door just to get in. I didn’t have the stamina [...]

We got back into Mid-City again today and spent the morning cleaning up my house. Michael doesn’t want to clean up his house before the adjuster gets a look at it.
First we hauled stuff out to the curb — a sodden, smelly, moldy, gross mess. Then we hosed the tile floor down. Then I sprayed [...]

Almost forgot — Today is the twelfth anniversary of my marriage to Xy. Happy Silk, baby!

I am exhausted — mentally, emotionally, physically.
Michael and I got to our homes. We took pictures and tried to assess the damage and retrieved some belongings. We rescued Oot, Michael’s daughter’s sugar glider.
All before noon.
Then we drove around the city and checked things out. We took pictures of friends’ houses: MaPo, PJ, Todd Stanislav and [...]

I am in Mid-City as I write this. We took the Crescent City Connection from Algiers about 7:30 this morning. We got across the river without challenge and made it to the Claiborne Ave East exit. There was a blockade that would have prevented us from going any further on the highway, but once we [...]

We made it into Orleans Parish without any challenge by the authorities. We are now comfortably ensconced at Howie’s house in Algiers.
We delivered our van-full of supplies to Malik’s place, which is serving as a community supply and distribution center, and we delivered our medical supplies to the Common Ground medical clinic.
Then we went out [...]

We decided to go further than Jackson MS. We have taken refuge in Mandeville LA, at the home of Xavier prof Jonathan Rotondo-McCord. Mandeville is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Outside the water is slowly rising, spreading through the streets of this subdivision and into yards and homes. We don’t expect it will [...]

Michael and I left Bloomington just before 6AM. Got a press pass from WFHB and a video camera from CATS and a van packed to the roof with relief supplies. We’ll probably only get as far as Jackson, MS tonight but we’ll play it by ear. Here’s hoping Rita doesn’t dump too much rain on [...]

The Mid-City neighborhood in New Orleans remains offically closed, but people are getting in every day and posting reports and pictures to blogs and message boards. I read all this sitting here 800 miles away.
So I’m heading back to New Orleans later this week with Michael. We hope to be able to sneak to our [...]

I miss my neighbors.

Most of them I knew on a first-name basis only: Richard and Crystal and Donika and Willanita and Danielle and Geraldine and Bob and Charlie and Dan and Craig… I don’t know their last names or have any idea how to get in touch. Will I ever see them again?
I hope they [...]

Just read an article gives me hope that maybe our home is salvageable.
Figures liberally quoted in the national press would suggest that much of the city will have to be rebuilt. This is not the case. Having worked as an architect in New Orleans for over 30 years, I know that the vast majority of [...]

A friend and co-worker sent this via e-mail. Hope she doesn’t mind me posting it here.
I journeyed into Algiers this weekend to work on my home and visit the area. As I’m sure you are aware, some areas of the city are opening up this week. Astoundingly, the Westbank and Algiers is bustling. As Susan [...]

About a week before Katrina hit, I turned on WWOZ and heard some super heavy jazz organ. I thought it was pretty cool, and paid special attention to the DJ when he announced it was Robert Walter.
The Friday before Katrina hit, the entertainment section of the Times-Picayune revealed that Robert Walter had recently moved to [...]

Johnny McKay died a couple of weeks ago. He was 32. I didn’t know him that well, but we had some mutual friends, and Xy & I crashed on a futon at his house on the west side of Bloomington, once upon a time.
We just went to his memorial service. It was pretty cool. There [...]