The media is focusing on New Orleans, but I was trying to find some information on Belle Chasse. While searching through some discussion forums I found some links to photos in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, both to the south of New Orleans.

St. Bernard’s is basically gone. The high-res photo that I found tells the entire story – with water up to the roofline of the entire town (of approx 67,000 residents). Someone took the photo and labeled the Super Wal-Mart, Civic Center, Sav-a-Center (grocery store), and Home Depot to give some perspective. It’s filename is appropriately omg.jpg

Oh my God, indeed.

Worse though, is that I ran across the Rebuilding St. Bernard blog – which has a list of missing people and a letter to President Bush from the Parish president. I don’t think that this town can be rebuilt – the Mississippi River has pretty much reclaimed it. There are houses floating in the water.

I hope that many evacuated, but there is a mentality in New Orleans and many along the Gulf coast just to “ride out” a storm like this – after all, they have done it many times before. Anyone that stayed are now trapped. Or worse.

Here are some more photos of Empire, south of Belle Chasse on Highway 23.

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Although I grew up mostly overseas, I am from New Orleans and lived there until I was about six years old. We would come back to New Orleans almost every Christmas and summer to visit my mom’s parents and other family that lived there.

My dad’s mom’s parents – Owen J. “Jake” and Genevieve “Ginny” Bradley – had a house located in Belle Chasse (Plaquemines Parish) which they passed down to him and where we often stayed on our visits. They also passed down their names – my dad being named after his grandfather and me taking their last name as my first.

I have a lot of memories of running around in Belle Chasse, helping to paint the shed, stepping into fire ant beds, and almost getting bitten by a snake! We had several acres behind the house where we could run around, swing on the tree swings, and walk back only a few hundred yards more, across the railroad tracks, and onto the levee.

If you look at Google maps you can see where “Belle Chasse” was at the corner of Belle Chasse Hwy and Bradley Place. Of course, Belle Chasse was the name of the town, but to us, it referred to the home that once belonged to my great-grandparents.

I had heard my dad talk for years about Betsy and Camille and how they had wreaked havoc on New Orleans back in 1965 and 1969. How Camille had stolen the two oak trees that used to reside between the house and the garage, some hundred feet away. He talked a lot about how New Orleans would be in serious trouble if a hurricane hit directly. And, something, something about the Army Corps of Engineers and the levee system… I listened about as well as you could expect a youngster to, which is not very much. Of course, I didn’t really understand what he was talking about or why it was so important.

Now I do.

My Pawpee and Maw Maw Shirley evacutated Metairie on Saturday to go stay with my parents in Chappell Hill, Texas. My great-grandmother, Maw Maw Batt, who still lives by herself at 98 years old in Kenner, left with other family members. Their homes, as well as the homes of many family members and friends are most certainly flooded and a complete mess. My brother-in-law Mike sent this photo of the levee break along with indicators of where his and my sister’s first house was as well as a restaurant that all my family has frequented. The photo on the upper right is the Hyatt where my family all stays when we go back to ride in Endymion for Mardi Gras each year.

For all intents and purposes the city of New Orleans no longer exists.

This is an incredibly sad and tragic day for the people of New Orleans. I am thankful to my friends and family that are safe – some of them not evacuating until the last moment – but at least getting out. Now the hard part is how long it is going to take before they can go back, and is going to be left to go back to.

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Many times in the past I have wanted to send out a card to someone - just a note to say “Thanks”, “Get Well”, or “Congratulations!” More often than not though, that involves a trip to the store and then the post office - something which doesn’t get done and then the window of opportunity passes you by.

I think that a handwritten note in the mail still holds a special value. It’s often unexpected by the recipient and it has a very personal touch - especially since fewer and fewer people actually send letters or cards today. And I had a few that I wanted to send out - a condolance to a friend, a get well for another, and a thank you note as well.

I thought that Carrie had bought some stationary for me a while back, but I couldn’t find it, so I started scrounging around in her scrap room. Pay dirt!! I found some amazing cards from American Crafts. They are very cool looking, plus have these cool vellum envelopes so that the card design actually shows through. What a great idea! So, I pilfered three of them and went off to write my notes.

Of course, I had to figure out a way to address them. Writing on the envelopes was out of the question, as it wouldn’t show up. Further, I don’t have any actual stamps, since I use Stamps.com for everything. No problem! I just printed out the addresses and stamps using Stamps.com on a regular piece of paper, then got out the good ole Xyron 510. A few turns of the handle later and I had some mailing labels and self-adhesive stamps!

The main thing though is that the cards are now in the outgoing mail slot and are going out. I think that I will try to get some actual stamps though to give the next ones that I send out an even more personal touch - and maybe even figure out a way to hand address the envelope. Sometimes it’s ok to go old school!

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I think that it’s really cool that my family has started blogging! Some people don’t understand the blogging thing, but I think it’s great! It’s a good way for people to stay in touch and know what is going on in other’s lives – as most people will post things that they wouldn’t just say in an email. It’s hard to stay in touch with extended family and friends as we all have work and “life” gets in the way! So, I think that blogs are a great way to keep us close until we do get a chance to visit in person with those close to us.

They are also a great place to share ideas and thoughts, which brings me to this post. Since I got back from out of town last week it has been nuts! I didn’t have much internet time while at the officiating academy, so I have been catching up every since (not that I was really caught up before I left!) I am not one that gets stressed out too often, but I definitely have been for the past few days – although I would say that my “stressed out” level is still below most people’s.

Today I went searching for the company Despair, Inc. – although I couldn’t remember what they were called. A quick search on Google for motivational posters solved that problem for me. However, Despair’s posters are actually anti-motivational (or “demotivating” as they call them). I’d run across this company a long time ago and have been wanting to order some posters from them for a while, but never have (and still didn’t today). I just think that they are hilarious and a good satire on the business world of today. Be sure to visit their website and browse through the entire collection, but here are a few that I just loved (some are kind of reminiscent of Jack Handy) — the first is more appropriate than funny for me, but the rest are just hilarious.

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This blog entry came from Mamoo, through my Uncle Wayne, to my mom, then to me, and now to you… Apparently Mamoo wanted some pictures of her cooking “Southern Fried Chicken” on someone’s blog! So, here they are! Just glad that I am not there to indulge in the food – it looks great, but I am still working off what I gained while I was there!

I probably need to have “Mamoo Day” on the blog like Carrie does with her Granny Rita, although I am a little scared what she might come up with! HA!

Love you Mamoo!

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