Did We Survive Hurricane Katrina or Not?

Not professional

2011-05-21T20:49:00.000-05:00

So after the terrifyingly high estimate for remodeling our backyard... I stopped moping and moved on to other things. Seventy-five bucks buys a jug of concrete acid stain. It's worth a shot right?

You know that sound...

2011-03-11T16:42:00.000-06:00

The one that a record player makes when you slide the needle off the record? It's used a lot in comedy these days - despite the fact that a majority of audiences have never seen a record player - but that's another post entirely.

Anyway - If I could spell that sound that's what the title of this blog post would be.

I was really excited last post about getting an estimate for work in the backyard. I loved the guy who came out to do the estimate and was impressed with his company. I had visions of a lovely sanctuary-like backyard. It would be the way it used to be before it was wrecked.

A week passed and I didn't hear from the guy. I tried not to take this as a bad sign, but I was getting nervous.

When Dave called Monday to check on things and was told that he had worked on the estimate over the weekend, I really started to worry. When the gentlemen came by the next morning and got out of his truck with a beautifully bound and covered estimate booklet, I cringed. I peeked at the final page with the figures. Just peeked. It was devastating: Over eleven-thousand dollars.

Now I just feel silly. I was figuring on actually having some money left over for a playset for the kids. I thought there would be money left for mulch and plantings. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't at all expect to be that far off on the costs.

To be fair - I don't think his estimate was high. I think I was suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking. A quick search for retaining wall and paver costs (installed) on the internet and plugging in our dimensions comes to quite near that figure. It isn't like me not to research things ahead of time.... This was an emotional blunder.

Sigh.

I am sadly going back to the drawing board. The drawing board will involve shovels and sweat and digging out those flowerbed trenches like we always have. We don't really need a patio. Maybe I'll still get that playset. We'll see.

In the meantime - we'll go back to focusing on our practical repairs.

There are porch columns calling my name.

Pick me up

2011-03-02T09:27:00.000-06:00

It hasn't just been months and months since we have blogged about our Hurricane Katrina repairs and/or home improvement projects. It has been months and months since we have done anything. We experienced and are experiencing burnout in a major way.

Out of money. Out of energy. Out of time.

It will be six years since Hurricane Katrina wrecked our house and our two sets of French doors are still fused shut from rust. (Out of money.) We still haven't put that final coat of paint on the living room walls. (Out of energy.) We never got around to finishing repairs to the back porch columns, replacing the crumbling ceiling fans, or replacing the fascia that has fallen off in subsequent storms. (Out of time.)

A snapshot of our lives right now:

There are five children. Two are teenagers. One is three years old. We have school events, sporting events, projects, fundraisers, and constant expenses. That's for two of them. The other three are still taught - by me - at home. We have eleven animals. Eleven. Eleven. Dave does have a full time job. I volunteer many hours a week. We also clean the school cafeteria on Saturdays. Milk is just over $5 per gallon. Gas is a little less. Our house is insured for over half a million dollars - but it doesn't appraise for nearly as much. That costs a lot of money. Teenage boys eat a lot.

Don't get me wrong. I love my life. I don't think Dave would complain either.

But I'm feeling a little overwhelmed... and a little down in the dumps. We have been so used to making progress on the house that it seems like - despite all we do in a day - we aren't actually doing anything. Add to this the fact that seven people in a house for a few years causes some inevitable wear and tear - and watching the things that we DID manage to fix slowly get old and worn and it's downright depressing.

And so.. It's time for a major project. It really really is. Yes - we'll be replacing those french doors soon and I have a couple painting projects to work on. We'll be replacing the light fixtures in the kitchen and eventually finishing the back porch columns... But I mean a major project.

Yesterday we had someone come over to give us an estimate for a backyard renovation. I'm waiting breathlessly for the quote. I'm wanting a stone retaining wall and a nice, new patio. This is the pick-me-up I think we all need. I'm sure of it.

With the fence installed...

2011-03-02T08:56:00.000-06:00

It's time to post a couple of follow-up pictures and discuss the next steps.

The fence looks quite nice, but as you can see in the photos the flowerbeds have been allowed to go completely to heck. This wasn't pure laziness on my part (thought it played a role). With the telephone company out here for just over six weeks tromping on plants and digging large holes and trenches in our yard - it didn't seem prudent to spend a lot of time repairing their damage when I knew we had a fence to replace anyway.

I'll be posting plenty of horrifying before pictures of the backyard soon. Anyone who has ever read my blog before knows I have always been pretty proud of my yards and gardens - so this will be an exercise in humility. But I'm hoping the after impact will be all that much greater as a result. Stay tuned.

Don't fence me in

2011-02-08T15:28:00.000-06:00

We have a few projects planned for the next few months so it's time to start blogging again.

First up - there's the back fence that's falling down. Or I should say - that was falling down. It isn't anymore because it's gone. One afternoon and night of taking the dog out on a leash and then we'll be set again.

Blogging on the go

2010-12-29T13:32:00.001-06:00

Not enough time at the computer these days so we are going to give mobile blogging a shot.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

2010-12-29T13:31:00.001-06:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Tis the season

2010-11-30T08:34:00.000-06:00

for cleaning up. This time of year is at least as busy as spring as far as little nagging projects go. Especially little nagging projects involving the front of the house.... There's just something wrong with hanging decorations on mildew-coated columns or a mailbox that has rusted.

Dave was particularly irritated by the rusted mailbox. Now I would like to pitch a product -- Krylon Metallic spray paints are spectacular as far as spray paints go! The colors are lovely -- and the 'metallic' part of the name is true.. This isn't flat paint with some glitter in it. The coverage is great and the finish is flawless... no runs or globs. In about fifteen minutes plus drying time - our mailbox is brand new.

The color is oil-rubbed bronze. This paint actually has a lovely metallic glint up close.

Work on the columns is progressing weekend by weekend. Those on the front porch are trimmed out, caulked, sealed, primed, and some even have a coat of exterior latex paint.

My sanding job on the wood-filler leaves something to be desired - but I was getting impatient... and the improvement is still dramatic. I figure we can get nit-picky with the sanding when we have to paint again next year.

And, finally, Dave has been working on properly painting all the rest of the porch trim. Honestly, we don't think there has ever been a proper coat of paint on the exterior trim of this house. When we first moved in the paint was thin enough to see the wood grain through it and it turned to chalk within a month or so. Over the years painting time was eaten up by other projects or delayed by insane weather so that we usually only managed to get it clean and coated with Kilz before the mold and mildew were back and doing their damage.

We have been taking our time with this painting in the hopes that it will last longer than previous years. Double coats of Premium Kilz-it along with multiple coats of high quality exterior latex -- allowed to dry completely in between coats.. may help. Also - switching to latex from enamel makes us hopeful. The internet tells us that oil-based exterior paints don't do UV exposure well. Oops.

Maybe we got it right this time.

Only time... and blistering heat... and blinding sunlight... and torrential rains... and industrial fallout... and thick coats of algae and mildew.... will tell.

Stalling

2010-10-10T12:55:00.000-05:00

It's been a couple weeks since I boldly pronounced the undertaking of a couple new projects here on the blog. Regardless - they're not finished.

To be fair, the fleur-de-lis-as-wall-damage-camouflage project is complete in the foyer. This does not constitute cause to celebrate, however, considering that project took about 20 minutes of my time.

In the meantime - the column project is at least more underway than the last time I mentioned it. The columns on the front porch are now trimmed and the trim is filled and caulked and ready. There is still caulking and sanding to be done before they're ready for primer - and hopefully that's a project I'll take on this afternoon once I am motivated by telling the world it needs to be done.

It's not laziness that slows us down, to be sure. It's a combination of having too many irons in the fire and running into the usual roadblocks. One example of such a roadblock would be yellow jackets. Yes. I don't like those. It's that time of year when those little buggers are particularly grumpy and - did I mention this? - I don't like them much. I was motivated sometime last week to trim our front hedges.. until a yellow jacket took offense at my waving electric hedgetrimmers around his house... I dropped the hedgetrimmers where I stood. They stayed in that spot on the lawn for a good three days before I had the nerve to retrieve them. Needless to say -- the hedges aren't finished either.

Another roadblock to progress would definitely be my tendency to start totally unrelated projects before I ever finish a project we're supposed to be working on. This time I was distracted by the need (no - really - it was a need) to do something dramatic to our plain yellow kitchen walls.

It took an afternoon to create a Gold Leaf feature wall in the eat-in area of the kitchen.

Unfortunately - this project is also technically unfinished as I intend to do the same thing to the north kitchen wall when the mood strikes me. At least this one looks finished in the meantime.

Weekend projects

2010-09-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

Relatively small projects, both -- but neither are finished. Not because we could not have finished them ... but because we stop to eat and sleep and be with our kids sometimes.... Things we had stopped doing during our feverish bid to completely repair the house post-storm. I learned to say 'It will get done eventually.' Then I learned the bigger lesson of 'It may never get done - and it won't kill me.' So here we are.

(Above) Project One: The gashes in the textured foyer wall.

It was a couple of years ago. A tropical storm was on the way. I wanted to be pro-active and at least get loose yard items picked up before Dave came home from work. Among those loose yard items were the two big rocking chairs on the front porch which I cleverly dragged into our mostly empty dining room for safe-keeping.

It didn't cross my mind at the time that our children would have lots of fun rocking in those rocking chairs inside the house... Or that in the process our freshly textured foyer wall would be randomly gashed by the backs of rocking chairs. It was pretty depressing when I found it. I let it sit that way for two years because I couldn't bring myself to repaint and texture.

Yesterday I still couldn't bring myself to repaint and texture. I came up with a bizarro idea instead! Using my 3D stencils I covered each random gash with a plaster fleur-de-lis. The goal is to sand them smooth and then glaze them to mostly match the wall when they're dry.... No pattern... As random as holes in the wall -- but way cooler. I can live with that.

(Above) Porch columns: Five years later.. finally restoring our columns.

We also finally gathered the wood and initiative to replace the rotten boards on our previously flooded columns. Thankfully we discovered that the columns themselves were in good shape underneath... and only the cosmetic trim had turned to mush.

(Above) One of the columns about.. uh... nine or ten months ago? We were happy to find that only the (indoor/untreated) trim had actually rotted... but not happy enough to actually work on it.

Since we have to do this anyway.. we decided to go ahead and add some height to the base of our columns -- they always seemed a little off-balance to me with those stubby little bases. Hopefully the finished products will make us happy..... But those are a long way off. We have the wood almost completely in place on two... none caulked or painted of course... and there are nine columns in all.

No rush.

Will South Mississippi be recovered in five more years? - Featured Story - SunHerald.com

2010-08-29T09:53:00.000-05:00

"Many who stood amid the wreckage of Katrina declared it would take a decade for the Coast to recover.
Half a decade has passed.
So the Sun Herald asked those still embroiled in Katrina recovery how they see the Coast five years from now. Will it be recovered?"

Coast rebuilding incomplete five years after Katrina - Featured Story - SunHerald.com

2010-08-08T10:17:00.000-05:00

Coast rebuilding incomplete five years after Katrina - Featured Story - SunHerald.com: "“It’s been constant rebuilding,” Pat Lobrano said.
“We feel like we were younger and stronger then. I’m not sure we would do it again,” she said.
“It has taken a lot of energy.”
Almost all residents who have rebuilt expressed the same sentiment as Lobrano.
“We’re back, we’re enjoying it, but it’s been a long road.”"

Miss. beaches largely unspoiled by Gulf oil gusher

2010-06-17T09:01:00.001-05:00

Miss. beaches largely unspoiled by Gulf oil gusher : "So far, Mississippi hasn't dealt with such messes, largely because of the underwater DeSoto Canyon in the Gulf, which is south of the Florida Panhandle, said Don Johnson, an oceanographer at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory."

Bunny hutch progress

2010-06-14T11:24:00.000-05:00

We did some work on the bunny hutch this weekend, I am proud to say. We aren't finished of course.. but we do have some wire and wood put together on our back porch at the moment.

I can't feel my hands.

Note to those considering working with wire and J-clips: Spring for the more expensive 'deluxe' j-clip pliers.

We got off to a slow start Saturday morning. We're still under a heat advisory and the mosquitoes are doing their very best to enforce it. Our first attempts at working outside resulted in several thousand bites and some instant bad tempers all around. We moved the wire part of the project to our back-up workshop....

The dining room.

We never got around to purchasing that dining room table after we moved the pool table many months ago... So why let such a good (air-conditioned, mosquito-free) space go to waste?

We plan on chipping away at the remaining parts of bunny apartment construction throughout the work week. I'm looking forward to posting the final product -- complete with (hopefully) happy rabbit in place.

The famed oiled pelican of Pascagoula

2010-06-07T16:59:00.002-05:00

I've been hearing lots about this guy... but finally (in this day and age of instant photographic evidence, no less) we get a visual -- and the source is not the professional media. Go figure. It was uploaded to the user gallery at gulflive.com.

Link here: http://photos.gulflive.com/photogallery/2010/06/oiled_pelican.html

Some bunny needs a little more patience

2010-06-07T16:45:00.003-05:00

Our rabbit hutch project for our deserving bunny, Leo, has hit a few snags since I last mentioned it.

First - the project was stricken by extreme procrastination.

So we had an idea.. we got the materials... and then we played the Wii and watched stuff on Netflix all weekend.

Second - the project was delayed by germs.

With one weekend basically wasted and behind us - of course the next weekend was spent totally immobilized on the couch trying to remember a time when I had the luxury of breathing through my nose.

Third - the project is currently being delayed by something called a 'heat advisory' - a thing of which I have recently learned.

Thirty eight years on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I can tell you that heat and humidity are no strangers. However, I don't think I've ever paid much attention to the term 'heat advisory'. I'm sure that a few thousand heat advisories have been issued here in my lifetime - but I guess I quietly dismissed them.. You know like "Uh.. right - Be advised! It's hot!" I'm like that.

Earlier today I got a handy alert on my cell phone advising me that it is (and will continue to be) hot. Undaunted, I slathered myself with toxic bug repellent and went into the backyard anyway. I lasted close to 5 minutes out there. I then came inside to find out more about these heat advisory things.

I found the current watch via NOAA's NWS:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE


NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA


348 PM CDT MON JUN 7 2010


...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM TUESDAY TO 6 PM CDT
THURSDAY...
.HIGHS INTO THE 90S IN CONJUNCTION WITH DEW POINTS AROUND 80 WILL
BRING THE HEAT INDEX IN MOST AREAS TO ABOVE 105 DEGREES AND AS
HIGH AS 115.
Further down in the advisory we get some info on exactly what this means and what to do about it:

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...



THE HEAT INDEX IS A MEASURE OF HOW HOT IT FEELS WHEN THE EFFECTS OF
HUMIDITY ARE COMBINED WITH THE TEMPERATURE.  A HEAT INDEX OF 105
DEGREES IS CONSIDERED THE LEVEL WHERE MANY PEOPLE BEGIN TO EXPERIENCE
EXTREME DISCOMFORT OR PHYSICAL STRESS.  THE HEAT INDEX IS MEASURED
UNDER SHADY CONDITIONS...AND DIRECT EXPOSURE TO SUNLIGHT CAN INCREASE
THE HEAT INDEX AS MUCH AS 15 DEGREES.
A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS
EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY
WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE
POSSIBLE. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS...STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED
ROOM...STAY OUT OF THE SUN...AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND
NEIGHBORS.


All of that translates to:  "You won't be building any bunny hutches until at least Friday."

A common local sentiment

2010-06-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

Owners Stop Paying Mortgage ... And Stop Fretting About It - Yahoo! Finance

2010-06-02T10:32:00.000-05:00

Owners Stop Paying Mortgage ... And Stop Fretting About It - Yahoo! Finance: "For Alex Pemberton and Susan Reboyras, foreclosure is becoming a way of life — something they did not want but are in no hurry to get out of.

Foreclosure has allowed them to stabilize the family business. Go to Outback occasionally for a steak. Take their gas-guzzling airboat out for the weekend. Visit the Hard Rock Casino.

“Instead of the house dragging us down, it’s become a life raft,” said Mr. Pemberton, who stopped paying the mortgage on their house here last summer. “It’s really been a blessing.”"

Ugh. I couldn't imagine feeling relieved in this situation. Wouldn't you constantly be waiting for the other shoe to drop? What about that nagging feeling that something is just morally amiss? No matter how much you try to justify it - can you get around the fact that you agreed to the terms of repayment?

Maybe I would have a better time sympathizing with these folks if they were paying what they could afford toward their outstanding mortgages... Such as the man at the end of the article who says he went to his bank and said "I can afford $1300." He isn't paying $1300 though - he hasn't paid ANYTHING since 2008.

Of course there's probably legal advice at work here.. I'm sure there's some idea that paying anything at all toward the debt is acknowledging the debt -- and it sounds like these guys are operating on the crazy notion that they owe the bank nothing.

We've always wondered how other couples with families and mortgaged homes could afford boats and jet skis and new cars and Disneyworld vacations while we were budgeting for food. At least we now have a working theory.

Monday garden update

2010-05-31T10:51:00.096-05:00

The rain isn't giving me any real chance to get out and weed or mulch - but so far most of the plants are growing well enough to hide whatever isn't neat. Eventually the rain will stop and the heat will fry my lovely garden... and I know this. Yet every spring I'm so hopeful. That's almost poetic, I think.

The water still standing outside the trenched flowerbeds

long after a morning shower.

The great thing about establishing a perennial garden is that even when things get mostly ugly and struggle to survive the mid-summer droughts - all is not lost. I know that when the cooler fall months come all of those straggly plants will put down new roots and come back even bigger and even more beautiful the next spring.

My daylilies are a prime example. Bought exclusively from spring clearance sales or in unsorted bulk from various internet suppliers - the first couple years with my new daylilies usually produce little more than a yellowed strap of a leaf.. marking the spot where there will someday actually be a plant that flowers. (And how they will flower is a total mystery until it happens. Even if I did know what variety I planted at the time - after a couple of years I completely lose track. It's okay. I like surprises.)

We have dozens of varieties of daylilies in the yard - but this one
is my absolute favorite. I wait every spring to see this bloom for the first time.

This year's payoff for my patience includes a pretty little hybrid Lantana in the front yard. I planted it three springs ago and at the time it was a tiny plant with about four leaves and no flowers. The label said it was a 'hot pink' variety but I had no way of knowing if this was true or not considering the above-mentioned lack of flowers. It didn't flower that first year.. or second... Actually it didn't even grow. It languished. Today I've got a nice 24" x 24" mounding clump of gorgeous - complete with real hot pink flowers. It was worth the wait.

My fantastic hot pink Lantana. It's truly hot pink!
I've gotten pink varieties before only to end up
with light orange flowers... But this is the real deal.

I have an enormous amount of respect for gardeners who use annuals in the flower garden. I wish I could be one of them. The fact is though - when I try I never get anywhere close to a season out of those plants. They're totally temporary.. like paper plates. I plant my annuals and they look great the first day - then they take a couple of weeks (if I'm really lucky) to die. And that's why I gave up. I started looking for perennials.. for natives.. for naturalizers. I need a garden that grows itself.

There's a trade-off for sure. I often envy the beautifully sculpted and color-coordinated (and nearly instant!) annual gardens I see around town. I get no instant gratification... For all the work I put into the garden I usually just have dreams to show for it.... In a few years - it will be what I hope for - barring drought, flood, holocaust or Japanese beetle invasion. However, I don't get the sense that I'm sculpting a garden... making a garden.. decorating my yard... Instead - I feel as if I am participating (albeit in a tiny little way) in nature.

It's not a formal garden - but it is earnest. Yeah. I like that. It suits us just fine.

Suggested resources:

The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies

Katrina still claiming victims

2010-05-30T12:59:00.001-05:00

Katrina still claiming victims �
"Current Mayor Walter “Buzz” Jack, as well as Former Mayor Pat Lightsey and other community leaders attended the school. A number of them gathered at the site at various times throughout the week to watch the demolition and look for anything from the rubbish that could be savaged as a keepsake.

They all hated to see their beloved school, which later became Sandersville Special Consolidated School, demolished. However, former students and employees understood hazardous conditions necessitated the destruction of the building.

“Damage to the roof from Hurricane Katrina and rotting floors made the school

completely unusable, explained Chuck Benigno, director of school improvement for the Jones County School District. “The gym and some newer buildings will remain.”"

The reason I'm not outside at the moment ...

2010-05-28T17:05:00.002-05:00

Impromptu field trip

2010-05-28T17:03:00.000-05:00

Dave worked 10 hour days this past week so he could take today off for a field trip with the boys. The plan was to go climb on the rock wall at MGCCC. A good, solid plan.

We left early this morning for Ocean Springs to pick up our vacuum cleaner from the repair shop -- Oh! How I have missed my vacuum cleaner. We even stopped by McDonald's for breakfast with the entire tribe... then returned home to catch our breath before heading over to the community college for that rock wall.

Turns out the rock wall was closed. But! It all worked out just fine. We were invited for an hour-long boat tour of the bayou instead. Despite the temperature -- it was totally pleasant. The kids were superbly behaved and content... We didn't see any alligators - but even that didn't matter. It's nice to get out on the water every now and then and remind ourselves that this is a nice place to live after all.

Boats on the bayou.

Emily on the bayou.

Some bayou.

Yvonne & I had the most fun, I think.

The MGCCC Estuarine Education Center

In the meantime, the lawnmower repair shop had called to tell us that our lawnmower was ready... So we stopped by to pick it up on our way home. The lawn without the lawnmower is even worse than the inside floors without the vacuum - there's no way we could delay bringing the mower home.

What this means for weekend project status is -- we are go! With all of the major errands out of the way (including a little recreation) we should have plenty to time to tackle at least one thing from the to-do list this weekend! Stay tuned...

NOAA to release its forecast today for Hurricane Season 2010

2010-05-27T08:23:00.002-05:00

NOAA to release its forecast today for Hurricane Season 2010 - WLOX-TV and WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi: "Hurricane season starts Tuesday and today the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will release its forecast for the 2010 season. WLOX Chief Meteorologist Mike Reader said NOAA is expected to predict a more active tropical season."

Nevermind that these predictions are seldom accurate -- we all seem to get some perverse pleasure from worrying ourselves to death.

Full Moon

2010-05-26T20:56:00.000-05:00

Someday I'll actually be able to take a clear picture of this.... In the meantime...

Critters

2010-05-26T20:12:00.000-05:00

I can't think of a more appropriate title. It's not that there isn't a more appropriate title - it's just that it's been a long day and my head hurts - so this one will have to do.

On the recent to-do list I mentioned our plans to build a rabbit hutch... more of a rabbit condo... for our bunny, Leo. At the moment he's mostly living in his little store-purchased wood hutch. Poor Leo. He's a big bunny and the hutch just gets smaller and smaller. Literally. Leo is a rodent. He chews wood. Who decided to make an all-wood bunny hutch anyway? Ugh.

So this afternoon I received some of the cage parts necessary for the construction of Leo's condo. (Far be it for the local Lowe's to actually carry anything we might need.... Thank you, Internet.) We haven't started yet but I have a strong suspicion that the bunny condo project will commence this weekend.

Today's near-constant rainfall is all there is to report otherwise. The sludge that is our yard reminds me that this area is a swamp.... And lots of swampy critters have been coming out of hiding (lest they drown) for the past couple of days - turtles and salamanders and snakes and this guy:

He was hanging out under a cushion that I'd forgotten to get out of the rain. I run into plenty of these fellas when I'm rooting around in the garden... And I just have to wonder - is this normal? Seriously. When you turn over rocks in your garden you find.. snails.. spiders... worms... doodlebugs... turtles.. skinks... What about these?

I've lived here on the Gulf Coast my entire life - and some things I naturally take for granted. The sound of seagulls before a storm... Pelicans on the front porch... Sassafras leaves... Catalpa worms... But as I get older - and with the influence of my non-native husband - I have begun thinking about what little day-to-day experiences are local, which are regional, and which are universal.