Gustav and After

Post-Gustav. Day  ??? .. What day is it, anyway?

It's Thursday. That makes it Day 3.

My first full day at home. My first day of semi-normalcy. And I am so thankful for the little things.

I slept in my own bed last night, with my own pillow, in my own room, curled up next to my husband.  I still woke up at 5 a.m. Several times I woke up thinking I was still in Christian's room in Natchitoches. I hope that gets better.

My dog, Lollee, was so tired she didn't even get up this morning when Marty did. Nor when I did. I guess dogs are allowed to sleep in once in a while

We're still pretty much the only house around with all the modern conveniences.  Our pool is still gross, but Ryan came today to begin the process. They vacuumed a ton of leaves and branches out. It has gone from "Long Island Iced Tea" to the drink I saw on the menu at Chili's the other night.. Kinda greenish, brownish.

Mom, Lou, Marti Marie, Daniel and Rebecca spent the night last night . I offered a spot to Lora's friend Paige's mom. Today Marty and I spent the day inviting people to our house for dinner. Only a handful showed up, so now we have 20 pounds of red beans in our freezer.

I did work today, trying to call coaches to find out where they are and how they're doing. And I wrote my first Sunday column of the season. Had no trouble finding a subject.

Mom is still without power. Lou and Marti will go home to Houma tomorrow to see for themselves how things are. Kevin is there running things with generators. It could be weeks before they have power.

It's going to be a long couple of weeks for all of us.

And if there is a silver lining.....

Everyone in Norco has the same complaint. You can't see the stars at night because of the bright lights of the plants that surround us. Tonight we can. Let us enjoy that while we can.

I have the Power!!!

Sometimes we wonder whether it's good to have an old house.

Today, it's good.

Our house, the first brick house in Norco, once belonged to the dentist for Shell Oil Co. Now it's ours. We're thinking those old boys at Shell musta taken care of old Doc Almerico. Cause we got home today and we have power, AC, Internet, Cable TV. Only our block. .. Y'all, the butter didn't even melt in my fridge.... The ice cream did.

It's good to be home. Especially after a hurricane.

There are lots of trees down in our yard. My banana trees took a beating. And the ginger. And the calla lillies. And I'm pretty sure we're going to cut down that young pecan tree that drops nuts in our pool all the time.

And that pool is a really, really ugly shade of brown.

We lost some facia on one side of the house.

And Lora Leigh's little play house needs a new roof.

Oh. And one small, old window in our bedroom upstairs broke. It was already broken. It kinda fell out.

The next door neighbor's metal awning came down. The guy behind us is on a generator. We can hear it.

We are soooo lucky.



So my mom and my sister-in-law and a niece are here. And my stepson and his girlfriend. We cooked spaghetti and meatballs and shared stories. Now they're trying to catch up on all the news they've missed the last couple of days.

And, while I've got everyone's attention (if anyone's), I'd like to say this:

Thanks for NOLA.com, and the St. Charles Parish folks who put up a blog to keep us all up to date. Greg Champagne, you rock. So do you, Pat Yoes. Thanks to Brett Duke for driving by my house and calling me to tell me it was OK. And to Ralph Deroche for doing the same -- and for unplugging the Polaris.

Thanks to Daniel for cleaning up my yard before I got home.

And thanks to all those electric company guys from North Carolina and Virginia and all parts in between for coming down here to help us get power back up and running. And all those military guys we saw headed this way while we were heading out of town.

And, especially, thanks to you Courtney for choosing to go to school in Natchitoches and for letting us take over your apartment and your life -- again.

There's no place like home.

Hurrication

So, we dodged a bullet. Again.

Our house is fine. No flood. No wind damage. The pool is said to be filled with trees. That's no surprise. And we'll be without power for a week. Or more. So they say. Our phone line also was knocked out.

So we sit here in Natchitoches, debating whether we want to stay here and enjoy little luxuries like cable TV and air conditioning and a cold refrigerator, or go home to sweltering heat, a smelly refrigerator, no grocery stores or gas. And no Internet. For a week or more.

Hmmmm. Tough one.

We've become slugs here. We spent all day Monday in our pajamas, flipping channels, looking for news. Lora Leigh spent the day on her sister's computer, happily chatting away with her friends on Miley World. Today we got dressed and ventured out for a while in the rain. I was surprised to see all the tree limbs on the ground. I never heard a thing.

Jim Cantore picked the right spot, apparently. He did his live remotes from just outside St. Francis de Sales Church in Houma, the big one in town, and excitedly reported as the roof peeled away throughout the day. That's where my grandparents' funerals were. And my Baccalaureate Mass.

He could have gone to Lena's house. Her shed is gone. Clayton's truck bed cover flew away too.

Kevin, Samantha and baby Job rode it out at Lou's house in Lisa Park. They are reported to be fine. Lou lost some fence.

Baton Rouge got hammered too. I talked to my sister, Jo Lee. She said it was bad. "Real bad." I think I detected some fear in her voice. Over on the other side of town, my mom, my sister-in-law, two nieces, a niece-in-law, a nephew-in-law and two grand-nieces have a hole in the roof and stories to tell.

I think we chose the right place to ride out Gustav. We didn't get rain until late Monday. Lost power for about 20 minutes last night -- not even long enough for the beer to get hot. We did have a little trouble finding food today as the entire town of Natchitoches lost power for a couple of hours. It's back now. We went to Chili's tonight. They were serving a limited menu. It wasn't very good.

And we weren't the only refugees there. In fact, there was a little family there with a baby boy. According to his mom's personalized diaper bag, his name was Gustavo...

This is hard, you know. This evacuation thing. It's hard enough leaving everything you own to the mercy of Mother Nature. It's just as hard knowing when to goback. The parish will allow folks to go home tomorrow, knowing not everyone has a kid in college somewhere. Lots of people are doling out lots of money for hotel rooms and meals. We have lots of canned soup and Little Debbies.

But, we also have cable TV. And we see Hanna on the horizon. And Ike coming up behind. And Josephine forming off the coast of Africa......

Save our spots, Courtney. We might need them.. Maybe we'll just leave our suitcases here. We'll move out when you move out.

Lo

 

Tags: Hurricane Gustav, Houma, Norco, Natchitoches, evacuation,

A Guy Named Gustav

Here we go again!

It's a familiar refrain among the people in my family, in my town, in the bottom of my state.

With Hurricane Gustav bearing down on us, we're all saying, "Here we go again." Literally.

After much debate, much angst, much thought and many changes of plan, Marty, Lora Leigh and I, plus the two super poodles, are in Natchitoches, hunkering down with Courtney in her college town apartment.  It's the same thing we did three years ago when a bitch named Katrina headed our way -- only, that apartment was a lot more crowded and on the third floor.  Courtney only has one roomie now, and she has politely gotten herself out of our way.  I'm not sure if that's for our benefit or for hers.

This was our first plan all along, to come here. But then a lot of people started to plan to come here -- Courtney's mom and stepdad and stepbrother and sister-in-law and nephew and brother and his girlfriend, not to mention Marty's parents.  So, we started to rethink.

Then MY sister offered us the use of a big old vacant house in Baton Rouge. We jumped on that. We could just camp out for a couple of days on the floor.

Then Gustav headed right for Baton Rouge. And he started to weaken. So, for a fleeting moment, we decided to hunker down in Norco. I went to the grocery store and carbed up. Then Gustav got bigger and redder out in the Gulf of Mexico.

So, we thought we'd go to Lee and Regina's in Slidell.

But Gustav got bigger and redder.

So, here we are in Natchitoches.  We left Norco at 9:41 a.m. Me, with every outfit I've worn in the past 10 days, Lora's baby books, scrapbooks, school memory books, four boxes of old pictures, my wedding album, all of my sentimental jewelry, the French family silver, all of the family videos and my hard drive. WE also took the Wii and the Playstation2 so Lora and Courtney can challenge each other for as long as we have power.

It was a surprisingly smooth ride. We took Hwy 61 (Airline) through Gonzales and Prairieville, where it gota little sticky because Ascension Parish refused to put deputies on the intersections, and Baton Rouge, which had slightly higher than normal traffic. Then we turned on 71 north through Bunkie, to Alexandria. After a little more traffic at the Interstate, it was smooth sailing. We got here after 2 p.m.

Of course, the intersection at Natchitoches and I-49 was jam-packed with refugees, looking to fill their tummies and their tanks.

My mother, my sister-in-law, two nieces, a nephew-in-law, a grand niece, an ex-brother-in-law and his wife and, I believe, her daughter, son-in-law and child, are hunkered down with a nephew, his wife and child in Baton Rouge. Oh, there's a poodle and a chiuaua there too.

Marty's mother and father, meanwhile, the ones who evacuated Waveland, Mississippi for Kiln, Mississippi for Katrina, and lost everything they owned, are staying put in Kenner.

Daniel and Rebecca went to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It's raining where they are now.

So, here we are. High and dry. The sun is shining here at 6:55 p.m. There's a gentle breeze. The WEather Channel is locked and loaded and they're talking about my home town. In fact, Jim Cantore is in Houma. And there is a tornado warning at home.

All we can do is pray that we have a home to go home to when this is all over.

Stay tuned,

Lolo

Tags: Jim Cantore, Hurricane Gustav, Houma,

Mac Russo

Every year for the past 17, I have put aside a week of my annual vacation to attend the Louisiana Sports Writers Association's annual convention.  I have gone from Baton Rouge to Natchitoches to Lafayette to Lake Charles to Monroe to Shreveport and back --  sometimes alone.

Over the years I have made wonderful friends.  I have met many of the movers and shakers in Louisiana sports.  I have toured towns, played softball, bowled, swam lakes and pounded shots with many of them. And I have learned to play Bouree with the best of them.

It's not all drunken debauchery, but we do have one hell of a good time.  We eat good. We laugh. We play. Sometimes we even do some work. One year I came home with a cardboard kangaroo.

There is an annual writing contest as well. I've been Prep Writer of the Year twice and I've gotten a couple of second and thirds along the way.  I've learned to act nonchalant when my name isn't called, and when it is. 

And every year I have watched as one member of the group is singled out for the Mac Russo award.

Mac Russo was, by all accounts, an extraordinary man.  A sports writer in Morgan City, he was beloved and respected by all. And the convention he once put together is legendary.

I did not know Mac Russo, but I know who and what he was and what he meant to the members of the LSWA.   I know just because of what he has meant to the people whohave held a plaque with his name engraved on it -- and theirs.

In his memory, the LSWA gives an annual award to the person they think has contributed the most to the ideals of the organization. Really, it's a good-old-boy award. But it's so much more than that.  It means appreciation
acceptance
respect.

From a bunch of crusty old sports writers, it means, "We love you man."

The Mac Russo award winner is a more closely guarded secret than the best actor winner at the Oscars. There is no handicapping. It comes as a complete surprise, not only to the recipient, but often to the majority of the members.

Over the years I've seen grown men (and one woman) struggle to try -- in vain -- to express what receiving that plaque means to them.  They couldn't. They couldn't find the words. They couldn't catch their breath. They couldn't make their brain work fast enough. They couldn't believe that this wonderful group of people chose them.

I know because, Friday night, they chose me.

I heard my friend Dan McDonald talk about the legendary Mac Russo and what a great man he was -- and that legendary convention in Morgan City. Then I heard him promise that the LSWA constitution would become gender neutral for "her." (I also just became the group's vice president).

Then I thought, "Oh! It's Robin."

But then he said my name.

And I simply could not believe it.

But Dan's hugging me, Jim's hugging me, Kent's hugging me and then they are giving me a plaque with Mac Russo's name on it

And mine.

And I can't breathe. Or think. And I can't stop the tears. I am still a girl.

Then I try, like so many before me, to tell them what this means to me. What a momentous occasion this is for me. How special this is. How wonderful this is. How thankful I am to have all of these amazing people in my life, both professionally and personally.

But there is no way I can.  Not even now.

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It's Lora Day

It was six years ago today ....

In a courthouse in Hahnville, Judge Emile St. Pierre declared that this gorgeous, beautiful, funny, precious gift from God -- and from her mother -- would be ours forever.  We signed papers, we took pictures, we laughed and we cried.  Then we came home and celebrated as a family.

There is a young sapling in my backyard, a Japanese Magnolia that just turned from pink to green. That day our family planted it in its spot, surrounded it and offered up our prayers of thanks that this child managed to find her way to us.

Instead of gifts, I asked everyone to write on a piece of paper a wish or a message for Lora to read someday. We read them all and put them in a box.  Someday Lora can sit under her tree and read them. I hope then she realizes just how loved and wanted she was on that day and this one.

So, take a moment to celebrate Lora Day! Love your children and remember how lucky you are to have them ...

Louisiana Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame

After so many false starts, and too many false promises, the LSWA finally broke ground on its long-awaited Sports Hall of Fame Museum on Thursday. It should be open in 2010 -- which is about the time I am due to become the president.

You can see it here: (you may have to cut and paste). I'm in the blue sweater. Click Play.

http://www.kalb.com/index.php/news/article/once-a-vision-now-an-18-million-dollar-dream-come-true/2549/