Good news out of New Orleans...for a change!!

This is from my friend, Holli, also in New Orleans. Happily, her situation is much better than that of my friend, Christy, whose letter I posted earlier:

[My husband] Julio just called me with mostly good news and a funny story. The funny story first:

They were not letting people past the Laplace checkpoint. The police were not letting anyone in supposedly until six a.m. tomorrow. Julio pulled around the traffic on the shoulder of the road, in his van with a brand new trash trailer he bought in HOuston attached, and his father driving an SUV behind him. He flashed his constable badge and the state police let him and his dad in with no problem. He saw a bunch of military, ems, etc., getting off at a ramp where he wanted to go and so he jumped in the line with them, and activated his police light on his dash. The soldiers stopped and pulled out machine guns on him and asked who he was. He flashed his badge and they were suspicious and asked what he was doing, and he said he was a deputy (which he actually is, but only a constable deputy, who don't do anything except hold meetings about nothing), and that he was called in. They said okay, and he drove in with them. Rounding another curve, his trailer hit one of the soldier's Jeeps and he stopped and the soldier said he didn't care, wasn't his Jeep. So that's the funny story, how my husband is insane and has cahonas the size of an elephants.

The news- our house is mostly fine. The study ceiling fell in, which isn't totally unexpected because it used to be the garage and the ceiling has always leaked. We were planning on remodeling it anyway, so now it will be at the insurance company's expense. The only other damage inside was the ceiling upstairs in the playroom. I don't know if anything is wet up there, but the girl's toys can be dried. I was glad if it had to be one room it wasn't the girl's bedroom, which has a lot more stuff that could be ruined. Two of Julio's one million sheds blew down, but not his main one. One of the one's that blew down actually fell apart during the tropical storm and he never picked up the pieces. The second was a small tool shed where he kept his lawn mower.

Julio had stacked the girl's outside toys, a ton of them, bikes, big wheels, scooters, up in front of the house instead of bringing them inside. He said they are still stacked up like he left them.

The really good news is that all four cats, even Jasmine, who was about ready to die anyway, are all okay. They killed a squirrel and still had half of it left. Julio said they acted like nothing was going on.

Mom's house is fine, except her back glass screen door shattered, and her electricity will likely take a while to get back up because (1) it's Avondale, and Avondale seems to always have electricity problem, and (2) a tree in her backyard knocked the electricity pole over, and pulled out the service from her house. If we get our electricity back, she will stay with us until her electricity is fixed.

Things are much better than I had rationally thought. We will need a new roof, and my study will get remodeled and I'll have to see about the toyroom, but all in all we fared extremely well and are very lucky.

Security did not seem to be an issue. Avondale was completely deserted, and the Wal Mart in Boutte, about fifteen minutes down hwy 90, was opened, with people waiting in line for gas and grocery shopping. My neighbors, (Rachel's family, for those who know them) were all home, even the kids. Johnny, the father, has been walking the neighborhood armed to ensure that no one breaks into the houses. Julio said the reports from our cop friend of the shingles was a little exagerated, although there were some on the ground it wasn't extreme. The house smells, but he thinks once the fridge is cleaned it will be fine.

I am anticipating being able to go home as soon as the electricity is on. Julio said they were on Lapalco near the house working on the lines, so maybe a few days, maybe another week or so, but I"m just glad it seems like we may be getting back to normal at some point in the near future.