Quote for the Back to School Month of October:

Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage.
— Thomas Szasz , Noted American Psychiatrist

#1 Jul  #2, Aug  #3, Sept  #4, Oct  #5, Nov  #6, Dec  #7
2001: Jan  #8,  Feb  #9,  Mar #10, Apr #11, May #12, Jun #13, Jul #14, Aug #15, Sep #16, Oct #17, Nov #18, Dec #19
2002: Jan #20, Feb #21, Mar #22, Apr #23, May #24, Jun #25, Jul #26, Aug #27, Sep #28, Oct #29, Nov #30, Dec #31
2003: Jan #32, Feb #33, Mar #34, Apr #35, May #36, Jun #37, Jul #38, Aug #39, Sep #40, Oct #41, Nov #42, Dec #43
2004: Jan #44, Feb #45, Mar #46, Apr #47, May #48, Jun #49, Jul #50, Aug #51, Sep #52, Oct #53, Nov #54, Dec #55
2005: Jan#051,Feb#052,Mar#053,Apr#054,May#055,Jun#056,Jul#057,Aug#058,Sep#059,Oct#05a,Nov#05b,Dec#05c
2006: Jan#061,Feb#062,Mar#063,Apr#064,May#065,Jun#066,Jul#067,Aug#068,Sep#069,Oct#06a,Nov#06b,Dec#06c
2007: Jan#071,Feb#072,Mar#073,Apr#074,May#075,Jun#076,Jul#077,Aug#078,Sep#079,Oct#07a,Nov#07b,Dec#07c
2008: Jan#081,Feb#082,Mar#083,Apr#084,May#085,Jun#086,Jul#087,Aug#088,Sep#089,Oct#08a,Nov#08b,Dec#08c
2009: Jan#091,Feb#092,Mar#093,Apr#094,May#095,Jun#096,Jul#097,Aug#098,Sep#099,Oct#09a,Nov#09b,Dec#09c
2010: Jan#101,Feb#102,Mar#103,Apr#104,May#105,Jun#106,Jul#107,Aug#108,Sep#109,Oct#10a,Nov#10b,Dec#10c
2011: Jan#111,Feb#112,Mar#113,Apr#114,May#115,Jun#116,Jul#117,Aug#118,Sep#119,Oct#11a,Nov#11b,Dec#11c
2012: Jan#121,Feb#122,Mar#123,Apr#124,May#125,Jun#126,Jul#127,Aug#128,Sep#129,Oct#12a,Nov#12b,Dec#12c
2013: Jan#131,Feb#132,Mar#133,Apr#134,May#135,Jun#136,Jul#137,Aug#138,Sep#139,Oct#13a,Nov#13b,Dec#13c
2014: Jan#141,Feb#142,Mar#143,Apr#144,May#145,Jun#146,Jul#147,Aug#148,Sep#149,Oct#14a,Nov#14b,Dec#14c
2015: Jan#151,Feb#152,Mar#153,Apr#154,May#155,Jun#156,Jul#157,Aug#158,Sep#159,Oct#15a,Nov#15b,Dec#15c
2016: Jan#161,Feb#162,Mar#163,Apr#164,May#165,Jun#166,Jul#167,Aug#168,Sep#169,Oct#16a,Nov#16b,Dec#16c
2017: Jan#171,Feb#172,Mar#173,Apr#174,May#175,Jun#176,Jul#177,Aug#178,Sep#179,Oct#17a,Nov#17b,Dec#17c
2018: Jan#181,Feb#182,Mar#183,Apr#184,May#185,Jun#186,Jul#187,Aug#188,Sep#189,Oct#18a,Nov#18b,Dec#18c
2019: Jan#191,Feb#192,Mar#193,Apr#194,May#195,Jun#196,Jul#197,Aug#198,Sep#199,Oct#19a

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This month Violet and Joey Margaret Atwood's words about reading.

#1 "The Reader as Musician" at http://www.doyletics.com/images/05290295.gif

Each month we take time to thank two of our good readers of Good Mountain Press Digest, books and reviews. Here's our two worthy Honored Readers for this month. One of their names will be in the TO: address line of your email Digest notification. Our Honored Readers for October are:

Sarah Cherry in Nashville, Tennessee

Maryann Matherne in Englewood, Florida

Congratulations, Sarah and Maryann !

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3. ON A PERSONAL NOTE:


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Out Our Way:

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath: The first aftermath of Katrina was Hurricane Rita who devastated the heel of the state of Louisiana's boot-like outline like Katrina had its toe. Rita's winds came just as folks were returning to the area. Del and I had already entered on Sunday morning, leaving Alexandria, Louisiana at 1 AM and arriving at Timberlane meeting no traffic or roadblocks along the way. We had been calling our home phone daily until finally the answer phone picked up and we knew our power was on. This happened as we were driving from Austin to Houston where our daughter Yvette lives. We spend the night there, drove to our son Jim's house near Beaumont, had dinner with them, and drove onto the next day to our daughter Kim's house in Alexandria to pick up our chain saw which was being sharpened for us. We spent days cutting down hanging dead limbs from oak, maple, lombardy, crepe myrtle and magnolia trees. We had our first mail delivery in almost a month. We saw a Federal Express Truck go by. The Cox Cable guy came by and said we could expect our cable service back in about two days. We even saw our first jogger go bouncing by the front of Timberlane! Imagine that! A woman who has so little damage that she has extra energy to actually go jogging. Then Rita blew through. We were in suspended animation for two days as we awaited Rita. Del's crew putting covers on the blown windows at her mother's warehouse apartment had to suspend because of winds. We had several brief power outages during Rita and a long one of several hours afterward, but no additional damage except for water that came through the open windows into Del's mom's apartment in the riverfront warehouse. Once more life began to return to the area. The first Times-Picayune was delivered to our door. Our A&P opened. We ate at the Red Maple Restaurant and later at the Beef Connection. And our Cox Cable connection was re-established so that I had broadband and cable news programs again. Our Netflix DVDs began to arrive again. Now if only PJ's Coffeeshop would reopen — but I figure better latte than never!

This has been a quick summary of our activities in the aftermath of the blustery step-sisters Katrina and Rita. What follows is a day-by-day detailed account of this month full of "week-long" days, that had us singing Billy Joe Armstrong's lyrics, "Wake me up when September ends . . ."

Chronological Activities:

Riding Out Katrina
Katrina: Just before Katrina’s eyewall would have slammed into New Orleans, she did a hard right jog to the east and continued her path northward. The hardest winds missed New Orleans and hit Slidell and the Gulf Coast. Our maximum winds in WH (warehouse) amounted to about 100 mph, maybe 120 in gusts. My estimate from riding out Hurricane Betsy in 1964. I watched as the large oak trees went down, genuflecting, kowtowing to the West during the storm, followed by the power poles.

In the safe warehouse, we found out its weak points: the green skylights about 35 feet up the vertical walls. They began popping like champagne corks during storm, only the spray from the bottles kept coming and coming in at 100 mph for the rest of the storm. Minimal damage inside warehouse. Our two cars on the warehouse floor came through okay with nothing hard hitting them. The door we drove them through had lost a couple of panels which I was able to shove some green panels into to secure the bldg a bit better before we left. When the green skylites blew out, we discovered that they were at least two of them that were left in place along the apartments and water was streaming in through them as they blew out of their spots. The water was dripping down along the windows in the LR, Doris’ BR, and Dick’s former offices, 2 and 3rd floors.

At the height of the storm, just as we were putting containers to catch the dripping water, the door in Doris’s office had its glass pane blow out. We heard a loud BANG! and saw light coming from the previously dark hallway and a door still in its frame leaning against the far wall of the hall. I peeked cautiously around the corner and saw the tempered glass pane hanging perpendicular to its normal orientation parallel to the frame, sitting in the frame, half inside and half outside, leaning diagonally against the right side, with wind blowing into the room past it. When the pane blew out the force of the windows had slammed the inside wooden door to the office against the nearest wall, which is to the right of the pathway we normally take to the bathroom off the kitchen. Luckily no one was walking past. This was the most dangerous event we had happen. I had walked to that door minutes before it blew out, as it was the nearest convenient place to see the river with the large storm shutters pulled down in the Living Room. We abandoned the LR and moved to office apartment directly behind us away from the river.

At this point I watched and listened to the wind buffeting the windows facing East and South and decided I should inspect the second floor apartment directly below us. With my Entergy hardhat on for protection, I walked down the stairs and found some leaking along the riverside windows, mostly from the leaks above, but the wind was less severe and the buffeting minimal compared to upstairs. I went up to announce that we were moving to second floor. Del and I gathered up all our stuff and Doris’s stuff, led her gingerly down the stairs between us, and spent the rest of the daylight hours in the apartment on the second floor, Del's father's first office in the apartment section of the building.

I had noticed a structure through one of the blown out skylights and told Del, “There’s something where there should be nothing. A building where yesterday there was only sky! And it had to be at least 40 feet high. Must be a ship that is grounded on the batture.” Exactly what it turned out to be. When I got downstairs to second floor for first time, it looked like two ships, directly alongside each other, with some kind of gangway in front of them which they had pushed, maybe from Gretna ferry, directly upriver from us a couple hundred yards. As the wind and rain abated, it became clear from the name on the stern of Miss Darby, “Bollinger Shipyards”, that it was one ship with two hulls, a floating drydock ship which had run up on the river bank. It showed no movement during storm, so it was no threat to breach levee or harm us in any way. We did get some diesel fumes from it when the wind was blowing directly across its bow toward us. Saw some signs of oil on water on base of carport, a rainbow shimmering.

The water was still dripping into our many buckets and Tupperware containers when the running water in the taps stopped flowing. We were without power and without water. We used the drip collections to flush the toilets. We were in a building of apartments without a single window which could be opened. The storm shutters were locked in the down position until power is restored. It was stifling hot that night. We listened to Harry Potter, Bk 6, Half-blood Prince and then went to bed. It was stifling and warm in the bedrooms with no ventilation at all. I found if I took off all my clothes and kept uncovered eventually the minute sweat on my skin would evaporate and cool me off tolerably, not pleasant but enough to get to sleep.

Before attempting to go to sleep I tried to get emails out to the kids. I figured it was either that or smoke signals — and the wind was blowing the wrong way. Amazingly, while we could get no one else on the live phone line and all cell phones were not working, we could get a modem signal at the BellSouth.net number. To sent an email involved getting Del’s LT which had a little battery power left hooked up to Doris’s Bellsouth.net which I knew nothing about and Del recalled only a little. She did not know the ID nor the Password and kept guessing with no success. Eventually we stumbled upon some right combination of ID/PW and I got connected only to have to navigate the rapids of Webmail.cox.net for the first time. First job was to find it, then the webpage wanted my city of origin and it got hung up there for a time. Suspecting New Orleans may be out of service, I switched to Arkansas and eventually I found webmail.cox.net and it said to Bookmark it, but I memorized it instead, not wanting my battery to run out.

I created an email to Kim and Maureen and Robbie since we had those emails. By 7 pm I had sent out the email. Also took time to write a long one to the World-Wide Doyletics List and several of my Steiner friends. Cox Webmail has this aggravating 30 min limit after which you have to sign up again. With my battery running out, this was more aggravating delay.

Here’s the difference between Robbie and Kim: when I talked to Kim the next morning, at 5 am, she had been frantically trying to call every few minutes all night! All the while she suffered in agony, on her computer was a waiting email that would have allowed her to sleep peacefully, one that I sweated literally in a stifling room using an unfamiliar LT, ISP, and Webmail for the first time to get a message to her to ease her mind and allow her to sleep peacefully.

What did Rob say when I first talked to him? “How did you manage to get an email out?!” That’s the difference. Rob admired my doing what Kim never considered as a possibility.

Del’s three sons were mad at us for choosing to ride out the storm with Del's mom who wouldn't leave even if we did. “YOU put US through HELL!” is an exact quote from one son who spent the night in an air-conditioned room with running water while we sweltered in a tightly enclosed apartment with no windows, no power, and no water to flush toilets with except what we had caught in the plastic containers under the leaking windows. Only Kim seemed inclined to express how well we survived the storm.

Moving to Timberlane
Up at 5 am — took photos of the dark city of New Orleans by walking out through the blown-out office door. Pulled the glass pane into the office. Banged the aluminum frame into shape and re-hung the glass as best I could with the weather-stripping still around. Took photo of roof which looked so much like a sardine can peeled away in shreds from the riverside. Managed at the hardest to get the office door closed and locked again.

Kim reached us at 5:30 am with her call. She was relieved. We started getting interrupted by Call Waiting and it was a son calling to berate us. After taking the calls, we left for Timberlane in Maxima – got stopped twice by police — had on my Entergy Hard hat & we dodged under downed power lines at green gates into Timberlane Estates. We cheered as we first glimpsed the roof of Timberlane still intact. As we drove up to the front, I felt an indescribable feeling of elation as I witnessed the devastation in our front yard, because the tree branches which were down were wreathing the house like a garland and the house was sitting pretty, shining thru the debris which surrounded it on all sides. Nothing I saw at Timberlane could make me feel bad that day. Not the broken fences on three sides, not the large Lombardy Poplar which barely brushed the house next door, not the lost 2/3s of our shady oak tree, not the lost puppies who were nowhere around.

The black breezeway gate had its lock bent by the force of the wind and the gate was open. We checked the house outside and inside. Outside was a shambles, but inside alles in ordnung! No broken windows, no holes in roof with signs of leaking, no rising water. Outside our large papaya tree had gone down for the third time in a storm. The smaller one in the ground in the North Portico garden still had all its fruit on it even though branches were stripped. The one in the bucket I moved outside near its bigger brother was still standing. The first fruit of the avocado tree I’ve nursed for 15 years broke off and I found it and brought it inside to eat later. The tree will need to be hoisted erect with a come-along if it’s to be saved.

We decided to move Doris over here where we could have windows open at night and maybe some emergency power, etc. Outside ready to drive away, I noticed a guy coming up on his bicycle. Thought it might be the one I talked to earlier when I was by the curb, but it was some other guy. We talked to him awhile and when we turned toward the car to leavea again, we noticed that Ita and Steiner were running alongside each other towards us, saying, “ Where have you been? We’ve been searching the whole neighborhood for you!” We fixed up their food and water, I repaired gate lock to stay shut, and then we left to get Doris.

We had earlier in the morning talked to John Garrity, our neighbor, who said he had some power we could plug into with our fridge, etc., when we returned. He was planning to stay. So were we at this point. John said he was getting his Bobcat to clean off the debris from the center of Timberlane Road.

We drove over to warehouse and cleaned out three fridges. Del put the stuff in white trash bags and I carried down three floors to the dumpster (no power, no elevator). We made many trips up and down thise three floors of stairs with garbage and our luggage for us and Doris, but we were packed to leave.

Before we could leave, I put up two green panels which had blown down from the skylights into the place of the missing panels in the door, which we needed to drive our cars out of. Also reconnected the Sonitrol switches on the door. We drove both Maxima & Cadillac to Timberlane. We moved lots of red maple and other branches just to get cars into garage. Got two long extension cords connected end-to-end, and plugged into Garrity’s generator (a diesel welding machine). I noticed immediately that the compressor on the fridge would not work due to low voltage — only the lights and fans were making noise. So I hooked up the electric fan we borrowed from Eric at Richard’s Machine Tools for air circulation in the Living Room. Also charged up Del’s laptop and our cell phones.

We sat out on the East Portico in the “shade of our oak tree” whose shady limbs were on the ground between Del and Doris. I took a photo of them laughing as I said that. Let Doris watch the B&W TV — I didn’t want to watch any more TV. Went to bed at dusk and Del couldn’t get to sleep so we got up and listened to more Harry Potter on the East Portico. John called over the fence to make sure it was us and not some intruders when he saw our flashlights. Invited us for a dip in the pool he had just put back into swimmable condition, but we demurred, content to listen to Harry's adventures before going to sleep.

Evacuating Timberlane for Points North Wednesday, August 31, 2005: Woke up to ringing of phone to hear our son’s voice demanding, “Why haven’t you left?” I was eating I said politely and handed phone to Del. Our other son called and was just as bad. I walked outside to see the front yard early in the morning and saw a Times-Picayune! How did they get it published so fast? Went to curb to pick it up and saw it was some white corrugated roofing material from some shed. Tried some calls on my cell and got Uncle Purpy in Englewood, Florida! He was so glad to hear from me, first call from Louisiana. Told him what I knew. Came back to house and saw John Garrity outside and talked to him. He said that he was leaving for a month. People will be let back in on Monday, but only to inspect their home and get things out and leave again. When John told me that he was going, I went inside and told Del we were going, too.

Cleaned out two more freezers and fridges at Timberlane and loaded up both cars for our trip to Baton Rouge and points norh. Reloaded and shuttered Timberlane again. Placed a loaded shotgun behind my driver’s seat in the Maxima and told Del to follow me in the Cadillac with her mom no more than two cars lengths behind to ensure that no car could cut between her car and her bodyguard's car. I put on my hunting cap and we took off. Encountered no traffic as we left for Baton Rouge via 90 West to LA 3127 to Sunshine Bridge to I-10 to 73 to Prairieville, and got to John’s house about noon, an hour and a half trip.

Pam, John’s mom-in-law was there, probably will be for some time. She lost two homes in the storm, one in Diamondhead and one near 17th St Canal breach. John’s grandparents Gee and Papaw Hatchett had there earlier on the way to Kim's in Alexandria – they lost their New Orleans East home near high-rise. Papaw gave the keys to son Bill and said, “It’s yours.” Kim rented them a home in Alex to move into.

I took photos of grandson Kyle & Collin then asked Doris how her trip to BR was. “OK” she said and smiled. “Ready to go to Kim’s in Alexandria?” She said, “Yes.”

Went outside where Del and John were taking things from the trunk of Cadillac and told her we were driving on to Alexandria immediately. Del agreed immediately and John raised no objection, so we took off for Alexandria and Kim’s house.

Each day so far has seemed like a week had passed by the end of the day. This was one of those. On to Alex, first gassing up at Exxon for our last gas under two dollars for a while. Kristin said that the Exxon refinery in BR had lost its feed and would be producing no gasoline for a while. We could expect gas shortages on wide scale. Took I-10 to I110, to US190. Called Kim since she could call Stoney in Opelousas and said for them to meet us at the Palace, but when we got there it was closed for Labor Day weekend, so we missed them.

Our cells could dial out to landlines, but not vice-versa. I used Uncle Purpy in Florida to pass on information to relatives in La. Del and I could not call each other on our cells, even though we were only a few feet away on the highway. Busy signals all the time.

After missing Stoney at the Palace in Opelousas, I let Del drive and find a place to eat. She chose this multi-fast food place with Subway and I ate some quiesadillos and a shrimp plate that was okay. Got to Alex about 9 pm and unloaded the two cars again. Stayed up till midnight. Doris came out and asked for a drink which Wes fixed for her and he and she talked till 2:30 am. Wes and I needed to talk, so I slept until Doris finally went to bed and Wes and I talked in the Gentlemen’s Parlor till Katie got up to do her homework at 4:45. Then we sacked out. I slept till 7 am when Del got up. Got my webmail.cox.net emails and sent out replies. Easier on Kim’s PC than Del’s LT, but time bound to 30 min sessions and awkward to use. Got only send replies as I had no access to my address book.

Finally got my niece Monique on phone via Kim’s phone. She and Jason are still using BR cells and they’re busy all the time too. She said she’d bring Paul and Joyce over on her noon break, but Joyce overruled her and Monique stayed at work. Had three dogs die on her, I heard. Very busy. Average town size in La. has grown by 25% due to evacuees.

Had a crowd of people at Kim’s on S. Hampton today: Kim and Wes, Sue and Stoney and Sam, Weslee, Katie, Thomas, Skip and Linda Santos, Ryan and Katie Santos, Paul, Joyce, Jason, Taylor, G and Papaw, Doris, me and Del, also Don Cupit showed up.

I was able to get myself a PJs double latte and some reading done in “Riddle of Man” on the swing in the yard of Kim’s house away from the hubbub inside. This was my main respite from the bustle of guests and family. We hit the sack early that night.

The next day was Thursday, Sept 1, and I spent the day on and off the phone, not too many guests, Kathleen the maid was here, Terry’s wife, Pat, Sam. I answered emails, made calls to Uncle Purpy, his daughter Nancy Matherne Galvin, but neither had any word at this time about my dad, Buster. Found out that Aunt Hilda made it to Nashville, probably with Evelyn. Cell phone still on extended network setting, which did not go away until Sept 5. I could not place calls to nor receive calls from other South Louisiana Cell Phones. Did get a call from a tenant of ours, Mayra Perez, from Lake Charles. She got there with her family at some evacuation shelter. Brought tears to my eyes to hear her voice. Said that our other ground floor tenant, Hector, made it to San Antonio with Claudia. She said she saw a lot people she knew and called Lake Charles the “road-cross” which I took to mean crossroads, and then later figured out she was likely saying in her Guatemala accent that she was staying at a Red Cross shelter. Got an oil change for the Maxima.

Trip to Bloomington, Indiana

Early on Friday morning, I sat on the frontyard swing to read Alex Town Talk and only got to the front page when I read that the local gas stations were running out of gas. Jumped into Maxima and drove right down Jackson Street to the end and found no gas after passing five stations. I turned left at stop sign and came to a large open EXXON station and pumped gas while looking at the Tiger on the tank. Then I took Del’s Cadillac to the Tiger Tank for fillup. This potentially serious shortage of gasoline made my trip to my son’s house in Indiana and Del’s flight to Charlotte, North Carolina with her mom problematic. This precipitated my decision to leave at noon for Indiana in the Maxima. Plan was for Del and Doris to fly in private jet tomorrow and Dan to pick them up at airport in Charlotte. A few days later Del would fly into Indianapolis airport and we’d pick her up and we’d finish our trip in the Maxima, leaving the Cadillac in Alexandria to retrieve later.

Disregarding suggestions that I go up US165 north to I-20 east to Jackson, MS, and then north on I55, I went instead north to Texarkana and found newly opened interstate for future I-49 which neatly bypassed the town and got me right on I-30 heading east to Memphis through Arkansas. Gas prices rose dramatically from $2.60 when I left to $3.39 in Little Rock. The traffic was light and I was able to scribble my notes about the past days since the hurricane, most of which I have shared above. It was almost pure adrenalin that kept me awake and driving constantly until I needed gas in Arkansas. Then I drove north on I-55, switched to I-57 and passed through Cairo, Illinois and turned southeast when I got to Terre Haute, Indiana for IN46 to Bloomington. As planned, I called my son, Robbie, when I got on 46 and we agreed to meet halfway and he escorted me the rest of the way to his home in Bloomington. Usually I come there from the south side and wasn’t sure of the way from the north. The 2:30 am stop helped me stay awake. I talked to the service station owner where I refueled waiting for Robbie, and he said the prices had already dropped from its earlier peak of $3.39 down to $2.99 a gallon for unleaded. I followed Robbie to his home and dropped my weary bones into the bunk about 3:30 am. I had not driven such a long way in a car for some forty years — I was running on adrenalin the whole way.

Life on Kerr Creek Road
On Saturday morning and Robbie went to the Farmer’s Market where he picked up his milk for the week. No way I was going to get up for 6:30 to go with him. That would have to wait for another week. I awoke about 8:30 or so and walked upstairs to look for my grandson whose voice I heard talking to Jami, his mother. Didn’t see them in the kitchen, so I walked out to the porch and it was like I had entered Eden: The sun was shining golden rays through a light mist and a mother hen was walking across the garden with a dozen baby chicks following her. Roosters were crowing, and a group of ducks of various breeds were walking through the barnyard. From the barn, Jami appeared with 3-yr-old Emerson in tow, fresh from picking eggs for breakfast from the chicken coop.

My son returned with the milk and the cream was already forming near the top of the large Mason jars. I went outside to unpack the Maxima and Emerson was there to inspect the litter on the floor of the car I had eaten my peanut butter sandwiches while I drove non-stop from Alexandria. I cleaned out my car and then went up the hill for a fatherly inspection of my son’s new house upon the top of the ridge on the north end of his twelve acres. He was trained as a naval architect and he had Sean, his brother-in-law, had already built a prototype of the house when they built the post-and-beam barn building. This new house will have 2600 square feet and will have walls insulated by hardy wheat straw bales, a technique that is being used more and more in Indiana and places up north concerned about heating costs. The straw bales are the size of bales of hay and will be covered inside and out with plaster for cosmetic purposes. I helped Robbie the first day move some purlins (crosspieces over roof beams to attach metal roofing to), staple the insulation, and screw in the roofing material over the roof of the Sun Porch. The insulation is bright, shiny crinkled aluminum over some foam material. Robbie and Sean called it bling, after a street name for flashy jewelry. I was in bed early that night.

On Sunday, I took Emerson with me to Best Buy and bought myself a new USB 200Gb backup disk drive. My old 80Gb drive I had left home as an off-site backup since my desktop PC was in the trunk of my car. With the new drive I would be able to back my large C: as well as the other drives when I return home. In addition I thought, "I will be able move data from my LapTop, where my latest photos reside now, to my desktop when I have it set up in a day or so." Later I drove back to Bloomington and ate lunch at Red Lobster. Saw several other people from Louisiana who were in the restaurant. Went up the hill in the afternoon and helped Robbie and Sean cutting the bling and stapling it over the purlins on the roof. Also used tin snips to cut the corner pieces of the metal roofing sheeting for the corner.

I finally got my desktop PC installed and working. Before then I had only some scribbled notes on a pad from Kim’s to hold the chronology of the exodus from Timberlane. Had to wait for a place to set it up. Sean cleaned off his desk and allowed me to use it. I wrote these notes September 5, 2005 about 9 pm as Sierra, Walden were upstairs in their beds reading while Emerson was sound asleep. I spent the morning helping Rob install the rest of the shed roof over the SunRoom in the house on the ridge. I thought, "He needs a name for his new place. I like the Ridge House myself." Also cut the tin roof to size with the snips. He and Sean got the rest of the 16' lengths of roofing installed.

Around noon-time, I went to buy groceries at Bloomingfoods and Marsh’s Supermarkets. I bought items that Del and I like to cook and eat which were otherwise unavailable at Rob’s house. I bought sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, green and yellow squash, Newman’s Own Marinara sauce, bananas, artichokes, green beans, potatoes, rice, and a variety of other items. I cooked green beans with potatoes over rice tonight, artichoke flowers another night, prima vera over spaghetti another night and baked the sweet potatoes and cooked the brussels sprouts another night.

When I came home from the market, I began preparing the ingredients for green beans and potatoes for supper. While they were cooking, I went down and began setting up my PC. Everything went swimmingly. Then I started running a full back of the C: drive to the P: drive to the new Q: drive which is 200 Gb. About 60 Gb or one third of the Q: drive is filled up.

I also baked a loaf of Burkhardt Bread and everybody loved it. Also made some Red Zinger Iced Tea. Sean also cleaned out the fridge in the Pool Room so we’d have a place for our stuff to keep it from disappearing into the open maws of the three kids. Bananas had to be stored in our bedroom or Emerson would eat them all in one day, it seemed.

I was bone tired by then, but thought I’d stay up till Rob and Jamie come back from seeing the movie, “The 40-yr-old Virgin.” They needed some time alone together.

I thought, "Del is flying into Indianapolis tomorrow, at 3:21 pm on US AIR Flt 946. Rob will drive me to pick her up. Everybody’s anxious to see her."

Brian had called last night asking where was I, so this morning I text messaged him: “Sons Home Indiana” He replied “OK”, and gave me his land line, which allowed me to call him to talk.

Del said that she had talked to Ann who checked on our dogs. Says they have a new doggie friend with a white coat and black circle around its eye, also with tags. But when Bill Hatchett checked on our house, the dogs were not there. Then Jim and Stoney came and same thing. They were able to get Doris’ jewelry and secure it for her. Ann’s moving to Memphis — two and a half year assignment and she’s two years from retirement. Wonder if she’ll be selling the house. Things are going to be different.

I was exhausted. The next day I planned to work on completing my digest for September and if Rob couldn’t get his ISDN line working here, I have to transfer stuff to my laptop and go to a hot spot somewhere using Rob’s wireless USB card. Luckily this proved to be unnecessary, but it was not all good news. No matter what Rob and I did, we were unable to get my desktop to send emails from anything but Cox Webmail, which turned out to be a limitation of Cox Webmail, one that was not trumpeted about when I signed up for their broadband service. You never know until you find out.

The next morning (Tuesday) I was outside and heard Emerson crying continuously. I went over to him and asked if he’d like to take a walk with me and he said, “Yes” and stopped crying. We walked over to Kerr Creek and back and sat down in the back seat of a van which had been placed under a shady sycamore tree near the garage. Sitting there, it occurred to me that we could prevent to go for a drive. I told Emerson, “Look, I’m turning on the ignition and we’re going for a drive.” He joined right in the game. I kept describing to him the drive, even letting him have the steering wheel and driving for a while. As I looked over to my right, I saw Walden, his older brother, looking around the corner as if he wanted some of what his brother had, so I invited him to join us in our drive. After Walden had driven our car for a while, I pointed to the dashboard and said, “Walden, see that Red Button? That turns the car into an airplane,” and pushed the imaginary button. I asked Walden, “Where in the world would you like to fly to?” “The place where leopards are,” seven-year-old Walden answered. I had him take off, describing each phase of the process, and head out East, over Ohio, Pennsylvania, over the Atlantic, across into Africa, over the Congo, and into the Masai Mara in Kenya where I told him the leopards were. After a successful photo shoot of leopards in action, we returned to our plane and I asked Walden where he would like to go next. “Where mountain goats are.” Okay, that’ll be the Alps and I navigated for him as he flew us to the Alps. We came back home, landed safely and both of my grandsons had a great time as did I. Later I was explaining to Walden’s mom what we had done, and when I got to the part about the mountain goats, she interrupted my story for her only comment, “We have mountain goats in Colorado.” I ended the story there, thinking, “Did she think we’d save gas by going to Colorado instead of Switzerland?”

A few minutes later Walden, Emerson, and I got in the other van with Robbie to go pick up Grandma Del at the airport. Rob had spent an hour or so vacuuming out the van and then he stopped at a car wash to clean the outside. Del and I were glad to see each other.

Del and my first night together was Walden’s guitar lesson night and Phil, his instructor, was invited to dinner with the family along with his wife, newly in the States one year, a refugee from Iraq. Rahwa, a beautiful young woman with shining dark eyes, told us the story of how she left Iraq alone, going through the Jordan checkpoint without having a man escorting her, something completely forbidden in Iraq, up until now.

On Wednesday, I spent most of the day getting my desktop PC working. Rob and I tried everything we could to get my emails to go out, to no avail. We discovered that the kids were in charge of doing the laundry on a rotation basis, and that would explain how we could find not a single newly washed towel which did not have grease or dirt spots on it. Del decided to make the best of the situation and began a systematic cleanup and arrangement of our living area and taking long walks along Kerr Creek Road. She spent a lot of time in the laundry doing many loads of clothes for the house, both washing and drying them and folding them.

On Thursday, Joe Davis, an expert in straw bale construction techniques came to show Sean and Robbie how to install the first window over a straw bale and how to finish it off. Del and I cooked a prima vera and spaghetti for supper which turned out to be for 12 people when another couple showed up. Luckily I had made a huge pot full and only about half of it went along with the two pounds of spaghetti which completely disappeared. For some strange reason, Joe Davis and the couple who also came to dinner spend some three hours before, during, and after dinner discussing property boundaries in Indiana. I didn’t even suspect that in the modern world of Global Positioning Systems accuracy that boundaries could be such a subject of dispute or interest anywhere in the USA. I have listened to less interesting discussions in my life, I’m sure, although I can’t remember when.

Friday we decided it was time to begin heading south on the next day. First to Louisville and then to Nashville. I spent the day at the Ridge House with Robbie. He had decided to extend the roof out some six feet past the entrance door which required him to add a post and build out the roof over the post. I looked up in the morning and wondered how he would accomplish this without cranes. The post was sticking in the air six feet in both directions from the existing roof and it needed cross beams and then rafters attached. As I watched he performed this feat of prestidigitation. I handed tools and beams up to him and slowly the new roof formed into shape. He was soon sitting on the corner where the beam was screwing down the rafters and then the purlins and adding the roofing panels to finish the roof. Quite an amazing combination of planning and physical dexterity to finish this section of roof.

On Saturday, Del and I accompanied Rob to the Bloomington Farmer’s Market in the morning. Watched him pick up some bling and roofing material and some fresh cow milk. Took photos of flowers and activity at Market, then we three took a long hike around the downtown area waiting for Rob’s favorite restaurant, “Uptown Café.” to open. Turns out it’s designed after a New Orleans’ uptown café so we felt right at home. I teased the waitress saying, “All these items on the menu make me feel right at home, except for this one: the mashed potatoes side with the gumbo!” She laughed and admitted it was an Midwest accommodation to local taste buds.

Then we went back to Kerr Creek for one last look at the Ridge House and took off, taking a family portrait, sans Walden, who, I think, had a field trip with Aunt Tammy on the schedule. It was a great stay for me — made up in good feelings for what was lacking in genteel accommodations.

~^~

Louisville Stopover
We drove East on 46 to I-65 and took it South. I-65 was in great shape coming into Louisville — all the previous construction I'd encountered years ago was over and done with. It had moved south to Nashville as we were to discover.

Located KT's Restaurant with no problem as we had been there before. Had a nice meal with Betty Chowning who showed up as a brunette, of all things. Almost didn't recognize her, it changed her look so much. After lunch we walked out to our cars, Betty's car was near ours apparently on the same side of building. She had told us she bought a "lil convertible," and we were walking towards the cute Mercedes-Benz convertible I'd admired with the top down, so I suggested that I take a photo of the two gals with the convertible. They stood next to it and I said, "No, get inside, please." Betty went to the driver's side and the door was locked. I wondered why she was surprised it was locked and why she didn't just reach down and unlock it — the top was down after all. Instead she looked at me and said, "This isn't my car." Hers was a gray BMW over on the end of the lot past ours. She thought the Benz was our car! We had a good laugh over that one. Her BMW had the top up so we skipped the photo in the car bit and settled for an alongside the car one.

Opryland Hotel and Nashville Vacation
We said goodbye and turned on Harry Potter as we drove south through Kentucky to Nashville. Major construction everywhere — a complete maze but the instructions from the Opryland Hotel webpage were easy to follow and we drove right in. We noticed a Crackerbarrel Restaurant right outside the compound, so when I called Sarah Cherry, I suggested that we meet for breakfast at the start of our day in Nashville the next morning.

Our room was in the Cascades on a floor which had construction blocking up from the public areas unless we went down on elevator and back up again. A real hassle with all the convention ladies in town for Republicans Women National Convention and some nursing convention. I left the room to take a walk to see the areas of the waterfalls and as I left Del complained about my Ultima hat, how she didn't like it because of the sweat marks on the front of it. When I got in the elevator, a lady with the nursing convention behind me said, "Nice hat." When we got off the elevator, I asked her, noting her name tag, "Diane, thank you for that. My wife was just telling me she didn't like the hat." Teresa, her companion, said, "I like the hat." And the third girl of the group echoed the sentiment. I took down their names, saying, "I want to bring back evidence that three women liked my hat." We were walking and they turned to the right and as I said goodbye, it was clear they were disappointed that I wasn't following them — I got the strong impression that the four of us might have had a party if I'd followed them.

Instead I walked to the escalator to go down and it was broken. I walked around the waterfall area, took a photo under the falls, and asked directions from some Asian twit in an Opryland Hotel uniform whose advice was to take the same elevator I just came up on. I found the fixed stairs down on my own a few minutes later.

I was tired when I got back and hooked up to the plug-in internet in the room. Easiest one I've ever used: just plug and it's available, broadband internet at your beck and call. Used my LT I think and still had to use Cox Webmail to communicate to the world. Del went out and brought me back a veggie sandwich from the little coffeeshop across the Garden Conservatory that we frequented. Was good, but it came in just as the LSU game against Arizona State was in full swing. I was sitting in front of the bed to get close enough to tv and I slopped my dripper: the sandwich hit the carpeting and Del picked it up and placed it back together for me. LSU came from behind to win it with an amazing last-second pass.

We hit the bed soon after the game, all done in by another week long day which began in Kerr Creek and ended in Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

Parthenon, Mall Tour
Sunday September 11, 2005:Nashville Newspaper outside the door. Called for Maxima from Valet parking and drove to Cracker Barrel Restaurant — saw a lot of crackers there. We sat facing the same stag head over the same fireplace hearth as all the other Cracker Barrel Restaurants we ate in, only the memorabilia on the walls were different. We watched for Sarah to arrive. Saw one gal who might have been her, but wasn't. When she showed, however, it was clear that this was Sarah. She recognized me immediately, sat down and we three became friends instantly. She and Del hit it off. We had breakfast and then drove her with us wherever she told us to go. First stop was a drive through downtown on the way to the Parthenon. The building is a full scale replica done in concrete with bare rocks covering it (like our portico walks at Timberlane, instead of the marble of the original building). We were unable to enter the sanctuary where the full-size, thirty feet high statue of Athena is located, but we walked around the building and talked the whole time with Sarah.

Del and Sarah talked mostly while I took photos of the immense building. We returned to Opryland Hotel and took Sarah to lunch at our coffeshop and a short tour of the beautiful atria of the hotel.

At one point we rounded a corner into the Cascades atrium and noticed people staring at a vine climbing up a wall. It was about ten feet tall and seemed to grow out of the floor. We stopped and wondered what was so amazing about a vine in a room full of vines, trees, and plants all over. As we watched the vine began to move. Animatronic vine, I thought, but, no, it seems have a life of its own, and soon a human head slowly appeared in slow motion: it was a female face all covered with shades of green which blended into the vine. Grapes were dangled from various places, and this vine-woman proceeded to walk on her skinny vine limbs which extended to the floor both from her feet and her hands. At one point she bent over horizontal, balanced on her feet in a graceful ballet step. I felt goose-bumps all over as she moved. I was looking at an elemental plant being brought to life in the sensory world and my soul knew it immediately! Sarah and Del were also entranced by the elemental ballet which unfolded in front of our eyes. It literally took our breath away and placed us in suspended animation during the entire performance.

About 2 pm, as planned, we drove Sarah back to her car at Cracker Barrel Restaurant and said goodbyes. It had been a great day, a great new friend for both of us. We told Sarah we'd like her to get up to Bloomington, Indiana to speak to Jami, our daughter-in-law who is struggling with home schooling and organic living and fill her in on Bio-dynamic gardening — how it adds a whole new dimension to organic gardening.

Back at the hotel we watched a movie and retired for the night.

Trip to Austin, Texas
Monday morning: I drove to Parthenon only to find it was also closed on Monday year-round, so we took a few photos and high tailed it out of town towards the sunset and Texarkana. Made it there about 9 pm and checked into a Super-Stupid Motel 8. Too tired to care and only cost ¼ of what Opryland Hotel did in Nashville Tennessee. We ate lunch and maybe dinner at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant. We listened to the last several chapters of Harry Potter Book 6 — the White Tomb, etc.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005: Up at 7 am to get breakfast at Super 8 Motel and it was sad. English muffins seemed to have mold on them in the dim light over the fixing area. Told Del "Let's go to Cracker Barrel for a real breakfast." We did and then later we stopped in Waco at another Cracker Barrel Restaurant for lunch. Found a type of rocker we like. A Grindel Rocker, I believe. I will check website of Cracker Barrel Restaurant to buy one or find site of Grindel.

Tried an experiment while I was driving: Del read Ch 2 out of "Secrets of the Threshold" which she had earlier read the synopsis of. Worked good. I could follow what she read pretty well and could help at times when she got stuck and tell her to skip a passage at other times when the long sentence structure confused her.

We arrived in Austin at 2 pm but I was unable to find Hilmar's place on 8th St, so I called Lesley and said, "I'm lost!" I had forgotten to go past MoPac. I remembered how to get there with that hint, and drove right to their front door. We relaxed till Hilmar came home, then Lesley. We walked down to Magnolia Café down the hill for dinner. My garden enchiladas were delicious, Del's Thai Dragon was HOT, HOT, HOT! Should have known better. Had a great time talking to Lesley and Hilmar. He and I stayed up about an hour or so after Del and Lesley went to bed.

Inside Austin City Limits with Goethean Christology
Wednesday, September 14, 2005: Read Austin Statesman newspaper. Lesley up first to fix coffee. Hilmar due back about 3:30 to give Del some body work and then me. Del has not slept well the past few nights and even last night in this great bed of the Moores. I drove to C'S for some milk and ice while I was there. Came home, refilled ice chest and water bottles, then called Bradford Riley. He was on his way to work at Romeo's Restaurant and I told him I would see him there in about an hour. I thought, "It's where we'll eat tonight. He's off, so he can join us for dinner."

I drove out to Romeo's restaurant and had lunch with Bradford. BR [short for Big Bear Bradford] was working as Maitre d' and had to keep getting up and down as we ate and talked. Had a small cup of tomato basil soup and a Caesar Salad. Bradford had just finished reading my review of Karmic Relationships and was very impressed. Said I'm the only person in country bring Anthroposophy down to the level of common sense. He talked about movie "Contact" and its use of a dodecahedron, twelve-sided figure, and how Jodie Foster went into inner space instead of outer space. Reminded me of how Del in school was taken by the idea of the 12-sided figure and created a pentagonal dodecahedron. Purely unconscious.

He mentioned the Goethean Christology of Steiner — how St. Paul's work could spread out only as far as there were olive trees due to Christ's form filling the etheric forces of the olive tree region as a place to live while he occasionally inhabited the body of Jesus and other disciples. This reminded me of the Mass of Chrism which I have been going to for some 15 years, the Tuesday before Easter, where large silver amphora of olive oil is blessed and is then distributed to some 400 parish churches of New Orleans Archdioceses and used to anointed in Baptism, Holy Orders, and Extreme Unction all the souls coming into the world of the flesh and leaving it for an entire year. I did this completely unconscious, as much as Del was unconscious when she decided to make a pentagonal dodecahedron.

Came back to Hilmar's home and called Electra Briggs. Eyre Brooks, her husband, just returned from his dad's bedside in MN where he's just had a quad bypass. They can't come tonight, but I gave her the directions anyway in case something opened up. So if they don't come, it will be Bradford Riley, Hilmar Moore, Lesley Moore, Del Matherne, and Bobby Matherne tonight at Romeo's.

Five for dinner last night: Bradford, Hilmar, Lesley, Del, and Bobby at Romeo's. I had eggplant parmesan, Del some shrimp alfredo. For dessert, Bradford talked us into it by offering to pay for it. Del and I shared a "birthday sundae" and Bradford who sheepishly admitted to his birthday being the next day had one also. Bradford talked most of the time to us — telling us the story of how he and Tara met, how his first words to Tara, his "pickup line," as Lesley called it, was "You aren't a lesbian, are you?" Talked about his and Tara's "mutual sanctuary" pact and Del and I felt it resounded with us, also Hilmar and Lesley. We found out that Tara, Del, and Lesley were all oldest children, each with a younger brother, Hilmar and I are oldest of several brothers.

Houston Stopover at Greg and Yvette Clark's House:
Had breakfast with Hilmar and Lesley, packed up and loaded car. Xfred my photos from camera and unto LT and USB200. Charged up camera and about ready to go. Last night seemed like a goodbye feast so today we will travel to Houston. Perhaps stopping in Bryant to visit the Bienskis. Couldn't get them on the phone so we drove directly to Yvette's in Bellaire. Also tried at last minute to reach Terry Surrency and they were having phone problems at the office and we left a cell message. On the way I tried calling our home phone to see if our power had come back on. At 8 am got no answer, and then at 10:30, the default message rang out through the phone and we both let out a cheer! We're going home! ! ! But first a stopover in Bellaire, Kountze, and Alexandria to visit our children and pick up a chainsaw.

Arrived at Yvette's before she did but she left us a security code so we could get into house. Got to watch TV for first time in a week or so. None at Rob's and didn't want to use our time at Hilmar's to watch any.

When Yvette came home, I drove with her to deposit Evelyn at her Physical Therapy school. Took photos. Then we drove to Galleria to find the Segway Dealership. Had moved across the street, so we drove over there and found Ted who demonstrated a model for us down in the basement area where they had a small obstacle course and ramp to try it out on. I did fine except for Ted's help. Trying to coax me over the ramp, he distracted me and caused me to miss the edge of the ramp and go over into a tilt. I'm sure he felt helpful and useful at every step of the process, but I would have had no problem if he had not been trying to help me while actually distracting me. Bottom line: $5000 for top end model with Lithium battery with 20 mile range. $4500 for same model with 8 mi range. Recharge costs about 4 cents for full charge. Smaller model which cannot handle gravel or grass or dirt was $3000. Collapses to find into large trunk or back seat. Murano should hold two of them easily.

For supper Del had given Yvette the idea we didn't want to eat restaurant food so she cooked leftover chicken and broccoli. Suggested a little cheese for the broccoli. She baked a delicious angel food cake with coffee in it and toasted almond topping. Greg came home late from a business meeting and I think I'd already taken a shower and gone to bed by then.

Poblano's Restaurant Dining Experience
Friday, September 16, 2005: Up at 7 am and Visited with Greg for a long time. I finally asked if he was going into work, because I wanted to take a shower before leaving and didn't want to leave till he did. We drove to Kountze and Jim's. I got myself a large strawberry shake when we arrived and Del had a sandwich at Jim's when we arrived. I was able to watch Direct TV in the back room and read some of my Vademecum Steiner book "The Riddle of Man" during the lulls in conversation. Gina invited us to go to dinner with them which included her son Kirt, her mom, Sandra and her man, George, also. Sandra called us "riff-raff refugees" and the crooks which were bussed to Texas, "your fine friends". Frankly I felt a tad insulted by both comments — taken together the sentiments were exactly reversed. Del reminded me that Sandra, like Wes's brother, works with the prison system and "fine friends" is probably a PC euphemism for crooks.

So we went to eat Mexican food at Poblano's Restaurant, only problem was the place was over-crowded, we didn't have a reservation, and it was a 90-minute wait for a table for seven! How much worse could it be? We opted for the outside patio so we could be served sooner. The prospect of eating outside without air-conditioning seemed downright gloomy. Our server, a nice guy named Gladford, but everyone called him "Gee," had our table for seven thrown at him while he was in the middle of serving another table inside. I quickly ordered two frozen Margaritas for me and Del when Gee asked for drinks. Next hurricane Katrina event in forty years, I may order another drink.

I could see that Gee was doing his best under adverse circumstances and deserved our pity, not our scorn, so I did my best to let him know how much I appreciated his extra efforts to please us. Gee brought us free extra guacamole dip and bags of chips to take home. The three bowls of cheese dip went mostly untouched and Gina put them in boxes to take home when we left. I gave Gee a 40% tip on a fifty dollar tab, $70 by way of thanks for his extraordinary effort under adverse circumstances.

There was a beautiful full moon outside shining through the covered gazebo we ate in. Air was pleasant, food was great, and a good time was had by all men of good faith. Poblano's Restaurant is a great place to eat, somewhere on the way from Kountze to Beaumont. Hit the bed early when we got back to Jim and Gina's place.

Stopover in Alexandria:
Saturday, September 17, 2005: Had coffee and visited with Jim and Gina till it was time to go and we left, going via Jasper and Leesville to Alexandria. We arrived and grandson Weslee had his friends on a sleep over for his birthday. His dad Wes was cooking green beans, seafood gumbo, and grilled flounder for supper. What a feast it was.

His friend, Don Keller, came over and enjoyed the food. Nice guy, very much like Wes in many ways. We swapped some old jokes with each other.

Kim and Wes had moved their bedroom into the library due to carpeting replacement in progress due to water leak which Kim said was, "Sympathetic pains for the flood victims."

Home at Timberlane:
Sunday, September 18, 2005: Up at 1 AM Packed the few things we had to go into the car and headed for home. Not knowing where we might be stopped or how much traffic we might encounter if we waited till midday for our arrival home. Turned out to be good planning because we drove all the way into our driveway without being stopped. We stopped for eats at Mel's in Broussard which was real busy for 3 am, but it turned out that is the usual case for Mel's on Saturday Night, date night stopovers apparently. Service was abysmally slow, but food was good and we needed the break from driving. We drove directly home, encountering no traffic and no checkpoints. Our home was intact and the air-conditioning was running.

After several times in the morning opening our refrigerator by habit, I told Del, "We need to clean it out first." We spent three or more hours, taking every removable shelf from the fridge and freezer, soaking them in Pine-Sol and cleaning every piece with a toothbrush to get any mildew from the corners. By the time we finished the two compartments looked Spic and Span, like a new unit entirely. With trepidation, I turned on the power and within hours, it was making ice. For some reason the refrigeration compartment wasn't cooling down enough.

First Drive through Neighborhood:
Monday, September 19, 2005: It's good to be home again! Even though no Times-Picayune yet. Got up late and had our coffee. Then we drove through Timberlane Estates for the first time. Had to detour down Colony and saw monumental size oaks and other trees laying on the ground, some tearing up an entire yard front yard and holding it vertical. We passed by PJs Coffeeshop, no life. Then down Lapalco to Breaux Mart where the store was due to open in a few minutes — the line was almost to the Bud's Broiler, about two hours, we figured. So we turned around to head for home and I said, "Let's go see if Audrey and Jerry Casso are home." They were. Jerry came to door and invited us in. Was so good to see Audrey. She was holding school for Holly (5 yr old granddaughter) and an older boy. I asked is we could borrow an egg so we could make bread. She said fine and started to give us the entire dozen. Jerry scolded her, "I'm not going to stand in line for two hours again for eggs!" Audrey scaled back her aim slightly and gave us six eggs anyway. What a gem she is. Jerry nearly died during the aftermath of Katrina due to some internal bleeding, lost 4 pints of blood and passed out on his kitchen floor. Audrey was able to get a miracle call through to 911 and get an ambulance there to save Jerry's life. Jerry seems almost his old self again, worried about his apartments. After that we came home, and I baked a loaf of B Bread and made some red beans and rice for dinner.

Bald Eagle Flyover and First Grocery Shopping Trip:
Tuesday, September 20, 2005: Almost normal day in some ways. I cut the front yard grass, 3 weeks of St. Augustine grass. Took some time, but Del had cleaned the yard yesterday and I thought it would look good. It does. Then I worked on getting emails to send/receive from PC and even called BellSouth Tech Support and they were no help. I could send/receive from LT but not from desktop PC using the same ISP and Netscape Communicator 4.8.

After the grass, I walked down the roof and found the sewer vents were sealed just fine. Shingles mainly around the edge of the roof are gone, only a few in the middle of the roof. Very little tar paper showing. Will get a roofer in a few weeks when things slow down.

In the afternoon, we drove to Breaux Mart and bought groceries. On the way we took photos of the multiple tree down on Colony Drive. Forgot the eggs. We got in the Cash Only line and avoided the hour wait in the other 15 baskets line. I predicted it would be $60 and it was $60.15. We came home and were unpacking the groceries when I heard Del talking to Don, Annie Baker's friend next door. He was checking the house. Then we went back in to do the fruit bowl when someone in an orange shirt came to the front gate. The dogs barked like when Noemi comes every week, and it was Noemi! She had her car running and I waved to her boy friend, Mario Maroquin, to come in. Del fixed a bowl of the green and red grapes that we had just bought and we talked. Noemi slept in her car for two nights, with Mario, I suppose. Got stuck coming back to her home and the National Guard directed her over the Huey P. Long bridge, dumping her on Jefferson Hwy where they couldn't move down the street due to trees in roadway. So they came back over Huey P. Long bridge to River Road and slept in the car.

After they left, I had some red beans and rice and Del worked in garden and Sandra Tranchina called for her.

Received an RTC update from Tripp Frasch about members. Bill and Jenny Keck had quite an adventure getting out of city. They lived on Camp St. and were accosted in their car by four young men with a gun pointing to Bill's head, he gunned the car and got away. Later on an up ramp he noticed two pickups stopped and figured it was a trap so he back down the ramp and they got away again and finally made it to Baton Rouge.

Today I finished writing up my Journal notes since the previous Friday and caught up to real time about 8 pm. Del was watching some network TV (still no Cable), and I went to bed early to rest my hands and my body. I thought, "This was another busy day, and tomorrow I will be cutting limbs and hauling, so no rest for the weary tomorrow, but tonight I will sleep and awake refreshed."

Oh! One more note: A giant Bald Eagle flew over Timberlane today right as I was taking photographs of our roof damage! I got him as he was going away, but you should be able to see the bright white tail and head! A magnificent creature and great good omen!

Hurricane Rita Approaches
Wednesday, September 21, 2005: Up at 3:30 am and began working on photos all the way back to Nashville, getting them processed, catalogued, etc. Finished that task at 9 AM. Whew! Then Del and I signed onto FEMA website to file for assistance. Mo said $2000 for mandatory evacuees and cost of a generator. Yvette had receipt in her purse and it was stolen by a New Orleans evacuee. Wouldn't it be poetic justice if they tried to file for the generator and used the original receipt and FEMA cross-checked and found the folks who stole Yvette's purse?

Del found a Whitney Bank open and took care of transferring money to her mom's account.

Went outside with the pole chain saw and began sawing the long oak branches into pieces which can be hauled to front. About noon we had cucumber and avocado sandwiches on Burkhardt bread and I said I'd fix Sockaroni and Spaghetti for supper with a salad to start off.

After Del left about 1 pm or so to meet Ruffino at her bldg, I took a long nap and just woke up a few minutes ago. Hurricane Rita is tooling along with 120 mph winds almost due South from us and in 4 hours will be at 90 degrees and one block of longitude below us. It seems destined for Texas coast.

Just fixed a mandala salad and prepared to fix some Sockaroni and spaghetti for supper. Finished reading Steiner's "The Riddle of Man" book this afternoon. Del and I will finish reading aloud to each other the "Secrets of the Threshold". Bob's plumbing came and fixed the water leak so Doris' apartments have water again and Del could flush the toilets.

Rita Preparation and Roof Inspection
Thursday September 22, 2005: No TP today, MS Today Del and I started off with a bang. Then we went outside and I began cutting tree limbs in the front yard, but first I decided with Rita sending some feeder bands and rain our way that I better patch the two areas with tar paper showing. Went on roof right after the first rain of the day. Stayed mostly cloudy rest of the day. Patched the roof and came down. Rain stopped and I trimmed the hedges in the front yard. Then I cut the limbs hanging down from the citrus trees. Satsuma has sunlight again between the grapefruit and navel oranges trees. Also cut a loquat. Cut all the large down hanging magnolia branches. Then over to the Baker side to get the crepe myrtle over hanging the roof. Also took most of the green monster evergreen which I've wanted gone for a long time. Chopped and carted to front all the limbs. Big trunk will go this weekend.

Terry Langley came over to fix Annie's chimney and I told him I wanted him to give me an estimate for the roof. He walked the roof down but wouldn't say anything. I asked him about re-covering the roof and he said he used to do re-roofing, but he's seen personally the damage this does in this climate. The moisture between the two layers of roofing causes nails to rust and the next storm blows the entire roof off. Seems a bit of a stretch, but he's the expert.

Then I macheted the large papaya above the large branch coming out of its side and I was able to get it upright. May get some more papayas from it yet. Next is the avocado and yew trees. But that's tomorrow.

We had sardine sandwiches for lunch, watermelon after we got all hot and sweaty — like an inside shower.

Watched this movie: "Say Anything" (1989).

Del said John's character reminded her of me when we were first dating. I was unconventional and I made her laugh. I looked over and told her, "I could make you laugh with my little finger!" She seemed curious so I got up from my chair next to her in the screening room and walked down the hall wondering what I was going to do. I went to the hall closet and got the single bed blue bed sheet and put it over my body with only my left little finger that I had earlier held up, crouched down so only sheet and the little finger was showing and shuffled into the TSR with my little finger wiggling as I did a takeoff off "The Whiffenpoof Song" — "I'm a poor little finger who has lost his way, Bah, Bah, Bah..." Well, Del laughed and laughed for almost five minutes. Long enough for me to exit the room, fold the blue sheet, stow it away in hall closet and return to the Screening Room and see her still laughing.

After that we drove to Doris' apartment and saw new signs of water entering. The subfloor near the window is weakened and needs replacing. We moved things around. I wanted the TP but she said it was in the office area and we couldn't go into it because of Sonitrol. That does make sense to me — she can go into it if it's an emergency and she owns the building. But we left without it. We put axe, water, food, tv, and lights and the portable Skill saw in the attic in case of a levee break so we could get out of the attic. It's the drill we had planned for Katrina but we left Timberlane to take care of Doris. Watched: "What Dreams May Come" (1998) — A classic Robin Williams film about where suicides go when they die — into a black pit of despair from which they are unreachable and unretrievable. Spiritually filled with insights in living color.

Tucked into bed right after beginning of 10 news which was olds. Slept peacefully, but awakening at various times to check for sounds and heard none. Very little rain and wind during the night.

Rita's Feeder Bands
Friday September 23, 2005: BM Up at 6 am and we began the day by Del reading "Secrets of the Threshold" — she did well for most of the lecture and I finished off the last few pages when she tired or reading. Great metaphor about Prof. Capezius and the story that Dame Felicia told him about the castle.

She's talking to Jim our son now and apparently it took him 3 hours to go twenty miles en route to Alexandria from Kountze.

Power went down at 12:05 at heart of strongest feeder band so far. Shutting down. Power came back on in about five minutes. Learned how to Hibernate Del's Dell LT: hold Shift key and Select Standby!

We may be experiencing the last of the gusty feeder bands for Rita. If so, the power should remain on all night. Talked to the COX repairman and we may have cable service restored in a couple of days. All Timberlane Estates is out and he reported to main office of a feeder cable broken at our box which was on its side.

LSU playing Tennessee at 6:30 pm on ESPN2 and I would dearly love to see it on my COX cable in TSR. I prayed for the cable service to be restored by then.

When first power glitch occurred at 9:39 am this morning, barely noticeable except for my APC UPS notification alert, I called Del to help me cook some baby green lima beans and rice. Got it all done and eaten before the power went off for about 5 minutes later.

Checking 300 mi doppler to see how long winds might last in the feeder bands. Blowing about 30 mph right now fairly steady. BellSouth dialup has been dependable. Had only one abort in about 20 plus hours of using it.

13:55 power out again. Will wait a few minutes for it to reset before powering down. Turn off LCDs.

Went down for about 15 minutes. I called 1-800-9OUTAGE to report it and she said 726 Algiers and Gretna customers and 5000 WB customers were out of power and then at that moment, our power came on! Later it went out for an hour and Del and moved to front porch to continue our reading of "Secrets of the Threshold". She suggested we eat the rest of the Blue Bell Vanilla Specks ice cream before it melted and so we did it. I had frozen two gallon jugs of water and moved one into fridge each time the power went out.

When it came back on, we came in to see that the last of the rain and possibly the major winds were moving away from our area. At 5pm the storm seems to be due South of Lake Charles and headed for landfall across the border into Texas. From there it will move over Beaumont and then over Kountze on the way North. Need to get to work on my next Digest. I have lots of photos but no text written yet. Talked to Brian Kelley on the phone — he's in Colorado for two more weeks. First chance I had to talk leisurely to him. Brian said they'd be back in about two weeks.

Rita Aftermath
Saturday September 24, 2005: Up at 7 am to check the news and it's mostly olds. 3 historic bldgs in Galveston lost to fire. Center over Kountze about now still moving north. It's 9 am and the first gust for the past hour just coming through at about 20 mph or so. Woke up with power. Mo still has power. Everyone is still dazed a bit from two major hurricanes in one month. "Wake me up when September ends" will be the refrain for the city.

Got call from Ted Graham, he and Ruth Ryan are in Dexter, Michigan. Their house may have had about a foot of water, maybe not. They're coming back in town in ten days or so to assess damage, Ted and his buddy.

Then talked to Wes who has a houseful of company and no electricity. He's reading the John Folse history book of Creoles, etc. Rita knocked out their power, but no major damage.

We were doing well; I had started scanning Riddle of Man book through page 7 when the power went off again and it stayed off. We read through Lecture 7 of Secrets of the Threshold and then took a nap. I decided to go to WH since it had power. I raised the garage door by hand and was waiting impatiently for Del to get the hole in the fence fixed when the power came back on. We went anyway. The door's glass in Doris' office had slid down six inches and needs to duct taped into place tomorrow or next day to keep it sealed.

After leaving there with two TP's for Thur and Fri, we drove past Casey Jones (closed) and over to A&P (open). Who did I see first in the A&P? Etta! Getting groceries. We bought a few things and then came home.

This has been another wasted day but we did get to rest from all the limb cutting and hauling. Rested our bones. Doris called tonight and hung up before I could open my cell. It was the first time she had ever made a call an out-of-state call to New Orleans. Del called her back and Dan's.

Sunday September 25, 2005: ZZ NK TP Went to High Mass a capella again, but in AC this time at St. Joseph's. Afterward we picked up the TP at 415 on the porch. Checked out the apartment and the living room area received more water damage from Rita. Ruffino's crew was not able to put covers on the riverside windows that were blown out above the apartment. After leaving 415, we drove down Stumpf and then Whitney and back home.

Came home and we hauled more stuff out to the driveway and checked on the status from Hurricane Rita. Saw a sign saying Beef Connection open, so we decided to go there for dinner. I put on a sports coat and it was closed, so we drove to Mandino's (closed), and ended up at Red Maple which was open, CASH only, and limited menu of chicken, oysters, and catfish. Oyster sandwiches on buns, I demurred and got half catfish, half oyster platter, Del the chicken dinner. Cherie our waitress said Courtney (Brian and Judy's grand-daughter) is working the bar upstairs, so we stopped to talk to her after dinner. Looking pretty, she is. Bar has small TVs but I can watch the LSU game there on Monday night at 6:30. May do that. Talked to my cousin, Deanna, her mom, Hilda, and Aunt Lydia are back home now. Lydia went with Kenny after all, not Evelyn. Lydia has water leaking from her roof. Aunt Lorraine's home is 3 feet under water due to flooding from the south winds of Rita. Also her children's trailers are flooded. I went to bed about 8:30 after taking a nap about 7 for a half hour.

Prayed for Wrong Thing and Emailer Working:
Monday, September 26, 2005: ZZ NK Up at 5:30, made myself a cup of coffee, walked outside and sat by the table on the Oak Patio and surveyed our yard. Came in and began typing in my journal. Have missed only a few days in the past month. Was very difficult to keep up, considering loss of power, various places we stayed. At Rob's I was able to set up my desktop PC and keep up, and Hilmar's I used his PC to send myself an email with the journal attached. On the trip up to Robbie's I wrote my notes by hand as I drove alone through quiet areas of I-30 and I-55 before it got dark.

This morning we loaded up car to go to Hagan and were blocked from entering bridge, so we drove around to 415, picked up TP, and I taped up the office door on 3rd floor which came loose again during Rita. Said Hi to Red Freeze who was there at Richards today. Came home, had breakfast and filed a Claim for Hagan Apts with Scottsdale Insurance co. Postman came again today, second time since Katrina.

We cleaned out the water garden and were amazed to find a large 7" long black fish, the Koi, that I had bought when it was only about 3" long before the summer started when I bought two dozen gold fish. The Koi was $3.50 and to find it still living in the bottom of the muck in the water garden when all the gold fish had died (and disappeared, perhaps into the gullet of the Koi) was amazing. Maybe we should only get Koi from now on. Del took a photo of it as I removed it from water to dump into the water garden. We had enough fresh rainwater to fill the water garden over Aubergine entirely. A $50 plant and $3.50 fish survived Katrina and Rita.

Got call from Hilary who said her friend went into her apartment and said everything looked good, but there was some ceiling down along the wall in her bed room and he saw some roofing material coming through. Sounds like a hole in the roof from some tree limb. I went to the Blue Roofing location at Terrytown Station 56 at 300 Wall past Won-Dixie and filed to get some temporary roofing installed. Tomorrow I need to make sure that any overhanging limbs are removed.

Called Charlie Graf of Trees Unlimited and told him I might need him to do an emergency tree removal after I check on it tomorrow.

We stopped at Winn-Dixie on the way back from Blue Roof registration and bought some milk and bananas. Then we came home and cleaned out the garage fridge and freezer. While doing that I stuck my left middle finger into a rusty wire brush wire and it went under my fingernail. Told Del I needed to get a tetanus booster shot and we drove to West Jefferson where they were administering such shots in the lobby of the hospital. Had to wait behind only one person to register and get my shot. Nurse was a man from Boston who kept humming a song the whole time. First time I've had a shot since doing a doyle trace and I felt absolutely no fear, tension, nor unpleasantness at all from it. Amazing.

We watched the founding episode of the Lone Ranger on Channel 20 while I was praying for Cox Cable to be restored. He was one of six rangers led into an ambush by the Cavendish gang. Tonto was his boyhood friend whom the Ranger has saved and restored health when he was a teen and now Tonto was going to restore the Ranger to health. Tonto recognized the ring he had given the Ranger as a kid and the name he called him back then which means, "Good Scout", namely Kimo Sabe. The Ranger vows to bring to justice 100 bad men for every ranger ambushed that day, and to keep his identity secret so that Cavendish would never know that one of the Rangers he ambushed survived. Thus was born "the lone Ranger" as Tonto called him. Jay Silverheels and Clayton Moore.

I kept praying for Cox Cable to come on line so I could LSU-Tennessee game on ESPN2. I should have been praying for the Tigers to beat Tenn. instead! About 25 minutes before the game was ready to start and I was all dressed and planning to eat at Red Maple and watch it in their bar, I noticed a COX truck in front of the house and went and talked to the guy. He really didn't answer, except to say "It's not ready yet." and drive down the block. I went in and prayed some more and at 15 mins before kickoff the cable came back on. First thing I did was try to send an email and it didn't work! I was upset, but settled down to watch the game. LSU did a masterful job controlling the ball and scoring 21 pts in the first half. Les Miles said at half-time, it wasn't enough, these guys were good, and they showed it by coming back and beating the Tigers. That missed field goal try at half time would have won the game for us, all other things being equal, 27-24 with no OT. Alas, it was not to be, but Jamarcus Russell will be much more wary next time when time is running out. This was a great learning opportunity for this young team and new coaching staff. They played conservative the second half and lost the game doing it.

After the game I tackled my email problem in earnest. Finally decided problem was Netscape and downloaded 4.8, 4.7, then 4.8, then 4.8 again and on the last try refused to tell it where I hid the protocol so that I had to submit a brand-new protocol and the damn thing finally worked. It was the dicking-around Rob and I did to try to get the emails to go out over his proxy-like server which caused the problem in the first place and kept me from sending out emails on BellSouth from my PC using the same software and settings as on my LT and Del's LT! Now I have all my folders or most of them in the re-named old Netscape with the wrong protocols. Moved a few and it can be done.

It was Del who gave me the clue as to the cause of the problem: "the settings we had put in at Rob's house." Darn! I should have thought of it, but it would have likely saved me only a few hours anyway once I was hot on the track of a solution. Didn't hit the sack before 1AM but was sending and receiving emails by that time.

First TP and Trip to Apartments
Tuesday, September 27, 2005: TP First TP delivery at home, but that Del had brought me Doris's TP to read. The maid, Noemi, came to work at Doris's apartment . Del drove there with Noemi, then called me to go pick her up there and we drove to Hagan Apts virtually unstopped. Got on at Lafayette St. up ramp, encountered a pass through checkpoint (without stopping) around Terry Exit and made to Earhart-Claiborne down ramp, to Broad up ramp, then to Ursulines and Hagan. Blue car in driveway. Had to bust open Hector's door which was sealed shut, then trim some wood so that I could lock it again. Hilary's 1209 was in good shape except for some water damage in her BR along roof edge. Didn't see any signs of roof damage, but tree limbs lying on the roof from Katrina have to go, so I called Charlie Graf as soon as I got home. I stapled cardboard in the windows to seal off from any rain. When I go back I will cut the boards on the ground and screw over the two broken casement windows with broken panes, three frames have blown out and away. Unable to get into 1209.5 due to stuck doors. We emptied any we could identify as meat from the fridges of Hector, Hilary, and Hebert but left the other stuff in them.

Took photos all around of place. Drove past Pal's and called Suzanne Accorsi. She was in Houston at a friends and I drove back around to take photos of Pal's bar for her. Told her it looked like another two weeks before she need come back if she wants to wait till there's power and good running water. Tree crews were taking limbs off of power lines along Ursulines, but we saw many more streets which needed such work and no sign of crews, up until now.

We watched part of "Rome" on HBO and then watched this movie, first NetFlix to come in: Barbarians, Vol. I (2004)

Trimming Trees off of Hagan Fourplex
Thursday September 29, 2005: TP Up at seven to head to apts and drop Del off to talk to adjuster (Dee Ward was his name). Got to Hagan just in time to see Charlie and his crew, Mario from Honduras, and another guy sawing away the front limbs. I went upstairs, measured windows which needed wood covering, came down and found a piece of 1/4" plywood just right and cut one cut and got both pieces right size, one for double window and one for single casement window opening. Did have to take another inch or two off the single one. Then I went down and dragged away slats of the awning. Twenty years that awning has been battered by storms and stood up. Once about ten years ago Hector and I re-hung it after a storm and it took Katrina to blow it away.

Met Brian Pedeaux from Edgard originally who lives down the block on Ursulines. No damage to his place. Only place with damage with one with a recessed basement. Water after Katrina was 2" in the street until the levees broke, then it was two feet. He stayed through storm and nine days after. Didn't want to be evacuated by helicopter because he didn't know where he would end up. Is back now waiting for power to be restored. I told him it would be a few days to a week at most.

No sign of Lee Nolan from next door or Kyle Scafidi at this time. Tried to get Charlie's crew to take as many branches as possible from Kyle's side of the oak tree. Charlie is a wonderful guy and he told me if it wasn't me, this wouldn't have happened for months. He doesn't plan to come back to New Orleans on this side of river again. But I told him, "Now you know what it's like, if a big job does come up."

Their lift truck sprung a hydraulic leak while Mario was working and he had to bring in the bucket before it fell uncontrollably. He got it back in plenty time and proceeded to put on spiked shoes and climb the tree like a mountain climber, using the same equipment: ropes and physical agility. I asked him if there was roof shingle damage and he said yes, where the tree was rubbing. The gutters looked in good shape and he said they were only half-full of leaves. Charlie said the next rain would take them down through the spouts. Now we know for sure that there's roof damage. The apartment fared well with only the windows, the ceilings, the trees, and the roof receiving damage.

Summary of September
I apologize for the length of these Personal Notes this month, but it was the only writing that I had either the time or energy to do. I left very little out as I wanted to mention by way of acknowledgment and thanks as many friends as I could that we visited, had meals with, or talked to over the phone during this past month. Also I wish to include as many photos of this past month in which each day seemed as long as a week. I'm writing this Summary on October 1st and wish to share with you this passage chiseled in granite on a monument to the Battle of Shiloh which seems pertinent to the situation in New Orleans today:

Fold away all your bright-tinted dresses,
       Turn the key on your jewels today.
And the wealth of your tendril-like tresses
       Braid back in a serious way;
No more delicate gloves, no more laces,
      No more trifling in boudoir or bower,
But come with your souls in your faces
      To meet the stern wants of the hour . . .
             Anonymous

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Movies we watched this past month:

Notes about our movies: Many of the movies we watch are foreign movies with subtitles. After years of watching movies in foreign languages, Arabic, French, Swedish, German, British English, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and many other languages, sometimes two or three languages in the same movie, the subtitles have disappeared for us. If the movie is dubbed in English we go for the subtitles instead because we enjoy the live action and sounds of the real voices so much more than the dubbed. If you wonder where we get all these foreign movies from, the answer is simple: NetFlix. For a fixed price a month they mail us DVD movies from our on-line Queue, we watch them, pop them into a pre-paid mailer, and the postman effectively replaces all our gas-consuming and time-consuming trips to Blockbuster. To sign up for NetFlix, simply go to http://www.netflix.com/ and start adding all your requests for movies into your personal queue. If you've seen some in these movie blurbs, simply copy the name, click open your queue, and paste the name in the Search box on NetFlix and Select Add. Buy some popcorn and you're ready to Go to the Movies, 21st Century Style. You get to see your movies as the Director created them — NOT-edited for TV, in full-screen width, your own choice of subtitles, and all of the original dialogue.
P. S. Look for HD/DVD format movies which are now available from NetFlix.

Hits (Watch as soon as you can. A Don't Miss Hit is one you might otherwise ignore.):

Hits (Watch as soon as you can. A Don't Miss Hit is one you might otherwise ignore.): “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (2002) An enchanting look at two East Berliner teenage girls in minimally functional families. In this movie the big girls cry, but the small ones don’t, but things change, as they do, in the course of the movie. A Don’t Miss Hit
“A Lot Like Love” (2005) A lot like “When Harry Met Sally” only Oliver and Emily do the New Year’s Eve thing at the beginning of the movie instead of the end and there are no faked orgasms for Emily. This is a great chick flick romance which guys will love too if the popcorn is good.
“L.A. Story” (1991) written, directed, and starred in by Steve Martin, a love story in which a city plays a starring as well as titular role, Los Angeles. Gives us a snapshot of the idiosyncracies of L.A. in 1991 and how Steve met his real wife (I suspect). Wild, wacky, poignant, and full of love at many levels. A weatherman falls in love with a tuba player. Gets his life’s directions from a freeway sign. You must see this movie to decipher HOW DADDY IS DOING. A Don't Miss Hit
“What Dreams May Come” (1998) A classic Robin Williams film about where suicides go when they die — into a black pit of despair from which they are unreachable and unretrievable. Spiritually filled with insights in living color.
“Say Anything” (1989) with a young set of Cusacks, John and Joan playing brother and sister. John loves this smart girl with a fellowship and he only wants a girlship. Can this friendship be saved by love? Say anything you want, this is a great movie. It wears well and bears re-viewing. Put it up there with “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.
Barbarians, Vol. I (2004) First part of a History Channel series. Depicts the Viking people around the 900s who began to spread out across Europe and into America. Ends with the defeat of King Harald Hadrada of Norway in 1066 by King Harold of England at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York (Six months before King Harold was defeated by William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings).
“Yanks” (1979) with Richard Gere as a young man in the army (a runup to his 1982 “Officer and a Gentleman” dropped off in England prior to D-Day. His love affair with a young English girl and William Devane with Vannessa Redgrave act as the vehicles to drive this story of Yanks invading England with their fresh American charm, brutishness, and youthful energy.
“The War” (1994) Kevin Costner and young Elijah Wood in a great movie about one man coming home from Vietnam to make a home for his family. Two wars rage, Vietnam inside Costner each night, and the war between his kids and the Lipnickis each day. Only Billy Lipnicki, the littlest and deemed crazy one, is sane enough to find the key to end “the war.” A Don't Miss Hit

Misses (Avoid At All Costs): We attempted to watch these this month, but didn't make it all the way through on most of them. Awhile back when three AAAC horrors hit us in one night, I decided to add a sub-category to "Avoid at All Costs", namely, A DVD STOMPER. These are movies so bad, you don't want anyone else to get stuck watching them, so you want to stomp on the disks. That way, if everyone else who gets burnt by the movie does the same, soon no copies of the awful movie will be extant and the world will be better off.

What a MONTH! No AAACs!

Your call on these — your taste in movies may differ, but I liked them:

NOTE: With two hurricanes Katrina and Rita blasting our area we didn't have time to watch many movies, so we only watched Hits this month.

This Cajun joke came from Renee Legendre, Del’s cousin on August 13, 2005. Boudreaux's predicament reminds me of the New Orleans area during this past month:

Boudreaux and Broussard went to the Annual Fair in Lafayette and enjoyed bungee jumping from the huge crane. After the fair was over, they wanted to do some more bungee jumping.

Brossard came over one day and said, “Boudreaux, look at dis! We can go bungee jumping in Mexico for almost nuttin!” They looked at the brochure and booked the next flight to Mexico City and hired a taxi out to the spot.

They flipped to see who got to go first and Boudreaux won. Brossard hooked him up and Boudreaux yelled, “AIEEEEE!” as he jumped himself rat over the side. He went way, way down, and came bouncing back up close enough for Brossard to see that Boudreaux had got himself a black eye. Then down he went again and when he bounced up again, Brossard could see that he had got himself a bump on his head. Next time he bounced up Brossard saw that Boudreaux had got himself a bloody nose.

“Mais, what’s wrong, Boudreaux?” he yelled at his friend as he bounced up once more.

Broussard heard Boudreaux’s trailing-off voice as he headed back down. “Brossard, can you told me wat a peen-yatta is?”

FEMA Will Never Fly

The bumblebee cannot fly, unfortunately,
Unless the wings have autonomy.
No central nervous system
Can control the wing flap speed
Required for flight.

The wings must coordinate themselves
Free from central domination,
Or else — FEMA can cuss and cuss —
They can only be a fast-running
Bumblebee for US.

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To make a connection to the Doyletics website from your own website, here's what to do. You may wish to use the first set of code below to link to the site which includes a graphic photo, or to use the second set of code for a text-only link. Immediately below is how the graphic link will look on your website. Just place this .html in an appropriate place on your website.

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My reviews are not intended to replace the purchasing and reading of the reviewed books, but rather to supplant a previous reading or to spur a new reading of your own copy. What I endeavor to do in most of my reviews is to impart a sufficient amount of information to get the reader comfortable with the book so that they will want to read it for themselves. My Rudolf Steiner reviews are more detailed and my intention is bring his work to a new century of readers by converting his amazing insights into modern language and concepts.

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10. GRATITUDE - in Three Easy Steps:
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Maintaining a website requires time and money, and apart from sending a donation to the Doyletics Foundation, there are several ways you can show your gratitude and support our efforts to keep doyletics.com on-line.

One would be for you to buy a copy of my Dolphin Novel, The SPIZZNET File. Books May be ordered in hardback or paperback form from Xlbiris the Publisher here:

online: http://www.xlibris.com/TheSPIZZNETFILE.html

email: orders@xlibris.com

The best source at the best price is to order your copies on-line is from the publisher Random House/Xlibris's website above.

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Any questions about this DIGESTWORLD ISSUE, Contact: Bobby Matherne

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Look at George Burns, Bob Hope, both lived to 100. Doesn't that prove that "He who Laughs, Lasts"? Eubie Blake at 100 told Johnny Carson, "If I'd known I'd live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself." Do you find nothing humorous in your life? Are your personal notes only blue notes? Are you unhappy with your life? Fearful? Angry? Anxious? Feel down or upset by everyday occurrences? Plagued by chronic discomforts like migraines or tension-type headaches? At Last! An Innovative 21st Century Approach to Removing Unwanted Physical Body States without Drugs or Psychotherapy, e-mediatelytm !
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