So Far, So Good Says Grandmere Mimi!

It is Saturday night, 8.25pm Eastern Time and I just got off the phone with our beautiful and beloved Grandmere.

They have arrived at their destination safe and sound and encountered no bad traffic.

I will update you all periodically as I hear from Grandmere. Prayers for the people of the Gulf Coast.

Gustav- lose your speed and fury!

FranIam

Thank You!

We are evacuating in a few minutes. Yes, we changed our minds.

Thanks to all of you. I'm quite touched by the kind response of all of you whom I have come to know in real life and virtual life. That so many of you care and are concerned and are holding us in the light and in prayer is quite moving and means more to me than you can ever know. I cry when I read over the many lovely words.

I'll be in touch as soon as I can. God bless you all!

Much love,

Mimi

Crybaby Diary Post

Hi everyone. I would have preferred to leave today, but with all we had to do, along with an overflowed sink in the utility room that went into the bathroom, it would not have been an early start, so maybe it's for the best. Who am I to argue against the disaster manager. Of course, he did not tell us we couldn't leave today.

You may ask how the sink overflowed. Grandpère called me to help him with some damned boards to cover the front door, and I left the faucet running. Can you tell that I'm not being much of a good sport about all of this?

Plus, my grandchildren are not coming with us, because they won't go without their parents, and neither one will insist that they go. I'm not making the argument either, because the storm could make its way to New Roads, our place of refuge, too.

My daughter in New Orleans doesn't know what she's going to do. She's may go east to Pensacola or meet us in New Roads. Her husband is not leaving, so, at least, she will not have to take the pets with her.

Thanks again, everyone, for the prayers, thoughts and good wishes. They mean more than you can ever know. Such an outpouring of love is overwhelming. I cry each time I read them.

"Not One Drop Of Oil Spilled" During Katrina

CBS News:

Gee, if so many people believe it, it must be true - except it isn’t.

In May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) issued a report stating that as a result of both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the number of pipelines damaged was 457, and the number of offshore platforms destroyed was 113, with a total of 146 oil spills recorded.

A study of environmental impacts written for MMS by Det Norske Veritas and Company and published March 22, 2007 told an even more detailed story.

As a result of both storms, a total volume of 17,652 barrels (or roughly three-quarters of a million gallons) of total petroleum products, of which 13,137 barrels were crude oil and condensate, was spilled from platforms, rigs and pipelines. 4,514 barrels were refined products from platforms and rigs.

There were 542 reports related to offshore pipelines that were damaged or displaced, of which 72 resulted in spills that had a volume of one barrel or more of crude oil or condensate. These pipelines were reported to be dented, kinked, pulled up, twisted or bent, pinhole or valve leaks or other damages.

The 72 pipeline spills were accountable for about 7,300 barrels of crude oil and condensate spilled into the Gulf.

The report noted that response and recovery efforts kept the environmental impacts to a minimum, with no onshore impacts from these specific spill events.

However, MMS also noted that an estimated 8 million gallons (or 191,000 barrels) of oil was spilled from nine onshore facilities in the Louisiana Delta, where large holding tanks were breached by Katrina.

Gustav Preparation Update

We will be leaving tomorrow morning instead of today, because manly wisdom has decided that the traffic will not be as bad tomorrow. That will still give us more than enough time to get out of the way of the storm. We will have my two grandchildren with us, because both parents are staying here in Thibodaux. The disaster manager told Grandpère that Sunday was soon enough, and my son concurs, so that's how it is to be.

"Fox News: Still Shameless"

Fran kindly sent me an email with a link to Jen at Little Country Lost. The picture is from Fox News. See what Jen has to say. Translation: Feck the people. Take care of the oil.

Gustav - The Local Scene

Lafourche Parish (where I live) president, Charlotte Randolph, has issued a "mandatory evacuation order". The order does not mean that you must go or they will drag you out of your house. You may stay, but no emergency services will be provided for you. Of course, everyone should evacuate, but this is part "cover our asses" coming from the powers, because I know, and they know, that a number of folks are staying, including my two sons, and the parish authorities will be forced to provide emergency services to those who remain here.

I don't think my sons are wise, but one has three basset hounds, and the other has four cats, so you can see their reasons. Their families won't be with them, just the pets, which I assure you they will not leave behind if they decide to evacuate after all. My son who lives in Houma will come to stay at our house in Thibodaux, which is further away from the Gulf of Mexico. We live in the higher part of Lafourche Parish

In lower Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes, there will be flooding from the storm surge, no matter where Gustav lands, so those folks have already or will soon move out - I hope.

About Gustav

We know little more today than we knew yesterday about where Gustav will make landfall. It's still way out there, and it's moving quite slowly. Yesterday I was a wreck, but today I feel better. The storm will either come our way, or it won't. The prayers, the candles, the votives, the bonfires, and the encouraging words are helping me. I have all of you to thank for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you, my friends out there in Blogland and spread all through the intertubes.

Our Lady Of The Driveway - I Remember Katrina

Thanks to Athenae at First Draft for the photo and the title. She took this picture when she was in New Orleans at the end of March, when a group of us led by FD bloggers, Athenae and Scout Prime, gathered to gut a house, view the destruction, and squeeze in a little fun.

The statue of the Virgin Mary stood in a driveway. The head was broken off, but someone had put it back in place. The photo and the title struck me with such force when I first saw it that I have never forgotten it. The image of the statue of Mary in the driveway - "Mary, full of grace" as Athenae calls her - was the symbol of my destroyed and broken home town, my abandoned city, my beloved New Orleans - always full of grace to me.


Our Lady Of The Driveway

O Mary of the Driveway,
Broken like your city,
Your head lies on the ground.
A sorry sight, a sign,
A sign of devastation
Wrought by wind and water,
Angry blow and raging flow.

A passer-by, one of tender heart,
Sees and stops and mourns your head
Lying there apart,
And gently, gently takes it
And replaces it.
There. Our Lady's whole again.
Or so it seems. Or is it so?

Grandmère Mimi - 5-13-07

I posted the picture and the poem first on May 13, 2007 and then again on the anniversary of Katrina last year. Until I change my mind, I will post the picture and the poem every year on the anniversary of Katrina and THE FEDERAL FLOOD, which, in New Orleans, was not a natural disaster but an ENGINEERING DISASTER. I remember the more than 1800 people who died and all those who loved them. I remember the 275,000 who lost their homes. I remember those who survived, but suffered through horrendous conditions in the days after Katrina. I remember those who have not returned to their home towns, and who want to, but can't find affordable housing. I remember those in Louisiana and Mississippi still struggling to recover and rebuild their homes and their lives.

And now, on the third anniversary of Katrina and the federal flood, here we are watching and waiting to see where a storm named Gustav will make landfall. It's surely not where any of us wanted to be, but it's where we are.

UPDATE: I added to the title of the post to make clear the connection to the anniversary of Katrina and the federal flood.

UPDATE 2: Scout at First Draft has a wonderful pictorial remembrance of Katrina.

For The Latest On Gustav

Instead of loading and reloading pictures, I'll link to the Weather Underground site for information on Gustav. For those of you who are interested, in Text Information, the "Public Advisory" and the "Discussion" sections are helpful. Then, I look at the pictures labeled "Tracking", "5 day forecast", and "Computer models". Scroll down to see the big picture after you click.

I put a link to the site on the sidebar below Of Course I Could Be On Vacation.