Fluffy Bunny of DOOM! - kids

It's closing in to being 2 months since Katrina hit my area and many things are still not working. Since the cable infrastructure in my are is down we have no TV broadcast and no internet. The funny thing is I haven't really missed those two. I am fortunate enough to be able to spend a little time on the net from work, but when I get home I haven't had any real urge to use our temporary dial-up connection and I don't miss any TV programs.
My cell phone however is a pain. It cannot receive calls. When you dial it a message plays saying "The number you dialed is not a working number." I can receive text messages and make call, just not get any. The carrier says it is because of repairs to their system that still needs to be done. Oh well.

With the modern distractions unable to distract me, I am able to stay focused on other things around the house and in my life. I just about have the first acre of land cleared of debris from Katrina and Rita. Hopefully soon I will start working on the back 2 acres. I took a day to build our bunny(Pooky) a new outdoor living area with a nesting box inside it. He now has a 15sqft bunny pad with 25 year roofing shingles and 20 year exterior paint. I don't think he will actually live that long. Of course the kids all say they want to live in it.

Things are slowly getting back normal. The greater New Orleans area will still take some time. As for me, I don't think I can remember a better time in my life. With everything else going on in the world and locally, I feel guilty almost because I have a positive outlook right now for me and my family. I am not sure how long this feeling will last. I just needed to record it somewhere to remind me.

Feelgood, INC.

The road almost seemed to disappear under the dried leaves, but I knew it was there. The ruts made in the underlying gravel guided the car thru the turns and over the small bridge. The few houses that line the road were hardly noticeable behind the trees. The distance between the car and it's final destination shortened every second. Music played thru the car's speakers, but it was barely heard above the low pitched grumble of the tires displacing the gravel and leaves. The music didn't matter much as the car turned into the driveway and came to a halt. "Daddy is home!" from the 4 little voices was all that mattered.

Imagination

Over the weekend I did LOTS of clearing and yard work. From 7:00 am till about 11:30 pm on Saturday and 7:00 till about 5:30 pm Sunday (I had to bake my homemade lasagna and stuff myself and the kids so I cut the day short.) Since I was doing tons of work outside and I was picking up my new mower over the weekend, I had borrowed my friend's small pickup. The small pickup is often a usefull tool for carrying objects too large to fit in your sedan or small SUV. It can also be used to entertaining children. All 4 of my kids seem to love it when I borrow this truck. They play in it all day long. It can be a stage, a spaceship, a secret hideout or just about anything they can think of. The truck is it for them. Maybe I should get one just to park so they will get out of the house sometimes.

insert whimsical comment here

Too many things going on to be able to look back and write something funny about them. Maybe when the local chaos is over I can give my spin on things soon.

Deep Dish or Thin and Crispy

I can see why movies like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" were made. IT IS FUN TO DESTROY STUFF WITH A CHAINSAW! This is not my first chainsaw, but it never seems to get boring cutting stuff up while using gas powered toys, er I mean tools.

I recently decided to shave my head(again) and come to realize that the reason for hair is to stop the sweat from pouring into your eyes while you work in 100+ degree weather with close to 100% humidity(plenty of water still sitting around from the storm) All this sweat pours down my face, chest and arms. This makes small debris adhere to my skin easily. Because of the coloring of the pine trees I am cutting up, the small particles of bark and saw dust sticking to my skin looks just like the pepper seasoning that you find in pizza parlors. It looks like someone sprinkled me with the dried pepper sprinkles (when I was younger I called them the scab sprinkles)
Being that I have been outside almost all day for the past few days, i think I am more along the lines of a crispy crust than a deep dish right now.

STFU - St. Fu the patron saint of Ninja's

My skills have been honed from the recent disasters. My powers have certainly doubled, if not tripled. I am the 40CC CHAINSAW NINJA!

Lovely Hurricane Rita has decided that one week of electrical service is too much. Rita forced down a few more trees to try and isolate my family from the comforts of running water, lights, AIR CONDITIONING and the coffee pot! Rita also felt that close to 3 feet of water down my road would be our demise!

But the Chainsaw Ninja is prepared for all she could throw at us. Downed trees were no match for my well oiled chain of destruction! 30 gallons of gas and generator running brought back the basic comforts for my family. An aluminum canoe provides us safe transport from the island that my home was becoming. The family truckster was parked on the high ground allowing us to travel for supplies once we paddled to it.


Enough of that stuff...

We are without power again because a few trees took out our new power lines down my street. We also have a few feet of water still in my street. It got to within about 25 feet of my house this time, the highest it has been since we moved there about 10 years ago. It will be a while for them to restore power because of the high water still. No real damage to anything, just inconvience of no power etc.

Rain rain go away....

Hey, this weekend Hurricane Rita has decided to swing on by.. I'll hopefully be back.