We got through Ike just fine.  The only real news is of the "Nagin Special". 

In an apparent effort "to say to our friends in Houston and Texas that we want to take care of you, since you have taken care of us", at a Thursday afternoon press conference hizhoner invited Texas evacuees to request the "Mayor Ray Nagin special rate" when booking hotel rooms. When evacuees did so they found out that no such rate existed.

The president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Association tried to straighten things out by saying Sugar Ray meant to direct guests to ask for a hotel's "best rate" and that the "Nagin special rate" was the mayor's attempt to lighten the mood.  Nagin spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett remains mum on the issue.

See http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/hotel_seekers_ask_for_nagin_sp.html

I'm reminded of the Frankie and Johnny furniture commercial at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAGJ-3uzkms

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An interesting string on the forums was initiated by suzywong inquiring about the origin of members' screen names.  See What does your username mean?

Have a good one.  And share your photos, please.

And a very special thanks to Towanda for sponsoring out forums.

After the Gustav experience foiled our plan to evacuate safely to New Roads when hurricanes approached and while still at the hotel I said to my family, "We need to build a safe house just big enough for us use if we're in this situation again. We would need to have the exterior ready by next summer before the hurricane season. We can do the interior later and we can build it so that it's easy to add more rooms later". It was agreed that this made sense.

After we got the lights back on at home I chilled (literally and figuratively) for a day -- doing almost nothing but thinking about plans for this house. I played around with styles and decided I'd go for something that fit the area; something that looked like it had been there for a hundred years or more. When Mike came home from the Saints game (our neighbor had an extra ticket) he asked what I'd been doing then said, "You ought to make it like the camp. We can put it in the back near the ditch (we hope the police jury removes a weir a few properties down the road which would give us a nice little river front) and sit out and look at the water". How I hadn't thought of that is beyond me.

If you were able to come to the camp you'll remember that there was a large front room (20 x 20 feet -- unfinished since 1998 when Hurricane Georges ripped through), a hall with four bedrooms off of it, a back room, kitchen, and bath, a lovely sun room, a porch in the back (like mine at home now), and a side porch off the kitchen. In the old days a screened porch ran around the front and both sides.

I figure we can start our "safe house" with the front room and, where the first two bedrooms were, a bath and kitchen (each about 8 x 8 feet as they were at the camp). That would be an easy to build 20 x 28 foot structure -- plenty big enough for the six or eight or ten of us to bunk down in when a storm approaches. The bath (or at least a toilet and sink) would need to be done by next summer. The finished kitchen can wait. The electrical wiring can wait because we can use a generator and AC window unit. Shutters on all windows (just like at the camp) should keep us safe. The area we plan to build on is free of trees -- falling trees did the most damage during Gustav. And the land slopes down from where the house would be so there's a very remote chance of flooding plus I'd like the house to sit a few feet off the ground on exposed pilings (a camp-like style).

My family and friends rebuilt parts of our camp and repaired much of it through the years. We almost never hired help. I've no doubt that if we work together we can do this without a great deal of expense and have the satisfaction that always comes with creating something that will be loved and shared with friends. Wish us luck.After the Gustav experience foiled our plan to evacuate safely to New Roads when hurricanes approached and while still at the hotel I said to my family, "We need to build a safe house just big enough for us use if we're in this situation again. We would need to have the exterior ready by next summer before the hurricane season. We can do the interior later and we can build it so that it's easy to add more rooms later". It was agreed that this made sense.

After we got the lights back on at home I chilled (literally and figuratively) for a day -- doing almost nothing but thinking about plans for this house. I played around with styles and decided I'd go for something that fit the area; something that looked like it had been there for a hundred years or more. When Mike came home from the Saints game (our neighbor had an extra ticket) he asked what I'd been doing then said, "You ought to make it like the camp. We can put it in the back near the ditch (we hope the police jury removes a weir a few properties down the road which would give us a nice little river front) and sit out and look at the water". How I hadn't thought of that is beyond me.

If you were able to come to the camp you'll remember that there was a large front room (20 x 20 feet -- unfinished since 1998 when Hurricane Georges ripped through), a hall with four bedrooms off of it, a back room, kitchen, and bath, a lovely sun room, a porch in the back (like mine at home now), and a side porch off the kitchen. In the old days a screened porch ran around the front and both sides.

I figure we can start our "safe house" with the front room and, where the first two bedrooms were, a bath and kitchen (each about 8 x 8 feet as they were at the camp). That would be an easy to build 20 x 28 foot structure -- plenty big enough for the six or eight or ten of us to bunk down in when a storm approaches. The bath (or at least a toilet and sink) would need to be done by next summer. The finished kitchen can wait. The electrical wiring can wait because we can use a generator and AC window unit. Shutters on all windows (just like at the camp) should keep us safe. The area we plan to build on is free of trees -- falling trees did the most damage during Gustav. And the land slopes down from where the house would be so there's a very remote chance of flooding plus I'd like the house to sit a few feet off the ground on exposed pilings (a camp-like style).

My family and friends rebuilt parts of our camp and repaired much of it through the years. We almost never hired help. I've no doubt that if we work together we can do this without a great deal of expense and have the satisfaction that always comes with creating something that will be loved and shared with friends. Wish us luck.

 

We don't know exactly when Olive was born but estimate that it was the end of August. So we decided to con-celebrate PawPaw Chuck's August 28th birthday. Would have posted this sooner but Gustav got in the way.