Day 182

Here's a little clip from the LSU /Miss St. game...
Heroes was good today...

Days 177-181

Lots to say...but not much going on....

We celebrated Daniel's 5th birthday with my family and Janet's family....only 23 days after his actual birthday....stupid hurricane(s)...

This is Dean...crashed out Saturday night...I scored 4 tickets to the LSU / Miss. St. game....not a barn burner by any stretch of the imagination...but the weather was awesome...and the boys got to experience the electricity of Tiger Stadium...at night...for an SEC contest....

on a weekend that saw the # 1, #3 & #4 teams lose....it was nice to escape with a win...

Day 170-176

I know...I'm a slacker...

so...the new TV season has started...and we have programmed the DVR...

It's going to start smoking...

Monday - Heroes....the Sara Conner Chronicles, Chuck and Monday Night Football

Tuesday - the new show FRINGE is really good, Law and Order SVU, I recorded the Mentalist to see if it's any good...and the World Series of Poker is on every Tuesday as well...

Wednesday - America's Got Talent

Thursday - the Office, ER, Survivor, CSI, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia & my family loves that stupid show Hole in the Wall

Friday - Life

Still waiting on the Amazing Race and probably a dozen other shows that I'm forgetting...

and this one is for you 'red staters' out there...

Day 169

Day 168

Ever seen a $1,200 sink and faucet?

*cough*overpriced*cough*

Day 167

So...today we were attacked...by our townhouse...again...
As you may...or may not recall...During Hurricane Gustav...the house threw a mirror at me...that I detected with my SpiderSense and cat-like reaction speed....only to catch it and bring it safely to terra firma...unbroken...
Well, today...Janet wasn't so lucky...
Today, the townhouse attepted to crush poor Janet by throwing the refrigerator door at her...
Thankfully...she was wearing her Wonder Woman Bracelet thingies...and merely threw the door...full of ketchup, BBQ sauce and mustard aside...
you can't get us...Stupid townhouse...We're smarter than you....you're just a townhouse....not even a real house...

This is another of their 'moments'...

Day 166

My brother in law invited me to the LSU game with him tonight....I've never had better seats for a tiger game....

57 rows up on the 30 yard line...

I'm not sure that I've ever been less confident after a 41-3 victory...heading into SEC play...

Our quarterback situation is scary bad...and our kicking game leaves something to be desired...

Day 165

The dogs definitely have their 'moments'...

Day 164

No...Y ur sister be lyien?

I got my first wrong number text message while at the Parish Council Meeting tonight...

no house news today...

Day 163

So....The story so far...

We were told on Monday...that the bank's 'bottom line' is more or less $3,500 more than our offer...

We got BACK with my bank fellow...who is operating with a generator and a cell phone...and tried to send him the rest of our paperwork today...

We also found out there could be tax 'issues' with the house...and, hopefully, my agent and the listing agent are working on those details...

Basically, from what we understand, either the seller paid the taxes through a title company so he could sell the house, or a title company paid the taxes and put a lien on the property...who knows...hopefully we can find out tomorrow...

In a perfect world...which, almost 10 weeks later (that's how long ago we put our offer in on this house), we know this isn't...we could be closing on the property in 2 - 3 weeks...

It's pretty crazy...after looking at many, many houses since I moved here in April... To actually be this close to buying the nicest house (in our price range) for significantly less than we originally thought possible is just nuts....We are in the neighborhood of $120,000 less than their asking price...so...we are getting pretty excited....

I'll keep you informed if anything changes...and I'm sure 'OPERATION POOL CLEAN-UP' will lead to several adventurous posts...

oh...

and this is funny.

Day 162

Simply amazing...

Before Thursday... I'd say... that I maybe had seen 5 hummingbirds in my life... maybe...

Our friend puts out 3 hummingird feeders every day...and apparently there is an entire tribe of them living in the trees in their backyard...

I promise...there were no fewer than 50 birds attacking that red juice...

Day 161

Daniel celebrated his second hurricane birthday in his first 5 years...

Hurricane Frances in 2004 and Gustav in 2008...

As you can see...he's no worse for the wear...and we got to stay at a friend's house with electricity...so he had a little private party on his birthday...

Day 160

Church, Work, Football, Rest...
and I officially hate The New England Patriots...stupid Tom Brady and my fantasy football debacle...

We went to Walmart yesterday....to restock our shelves before IKE heads this way...and this was the line to get into the store...

Day 159

Today my younger brother Nick and I put up some tarps and visqueen on my parent's house...They had some leekage in several rooms...and with Hurricane Ike looking to be on it's way here...We don't think it will be reroofed before then...

Keep my mom in your thoughts and prayers...she's having some health 'issues' right now...and I'm sure she'd appreciate it...

Days 157 and 158

So we finished up the Parish-wide damage assessment yesterday...and today the FEMA folks are coming down to see the damage...
It is pretty much widespread around the entire Parish...and with IKE looming out there preparing to head into the Gulf shortly...it's not looking too good...
We got power back Thursday night around 5:00 pm...so...we were without for about 84 hours...There are still areas of the Parish that are predicted to be without power for upwards of 2-3 more weeks...
My parent's house is leaking...so...we are heading over there this morning to help put up a blue tarp on their roof....then it's over to another friend's house to help him cut up some of the (6) 36" oaks down in his yard...

Day 156

I'm tired...These 12 hour days that start at 6:30 are just absolutely killing me...
so...the mirror story...
During the hurricane...I was going through some boxes that we moved here...trying to figure out if there was just junk in it...or actually some good stuff...so...I found a box of slides from college that I wanted to look at..While walking to the kitchen area...so I could hold the slides up to the window to see...I was passing through the living room....
For whatever reason...I glanced up at the fireplace mantle...and I realized that the mirror mounted on the wall was falling...towards the earth...
I dropped the slides and miraculously caught the mirror.....all the while Janet is sitting on the couch....mouth wide open...not believing what was happening...
We just couldn't fathom the remarkable coincidence of the whole event...
It was just bizarre...

Day 155 part 2....the cooler hours...

So...the Family of 5 has relocated to a friend's house...his entire house is running off of a Natural gas generator...we were able to salvage some of our refrigerator goods...The dogs are in the guest house in their crate...with AC and a ceiling fan...so Boudreaux is nice and happy...
Janet is going to set up her home office here for the time being and the boys will be able to play with their 3 sons (all teenagers....but it looks like they are enjoying the younger generation...for now at least...)
The area is pretty dinged up...They are evacuating the hospitals due to the duration that we might be without power...Everyone is starting to freak out...because people, generally, only prepare for 2-3 days of food and water...and if it extends to 7-14 days....this entire region is going to be in some serious trouble...

The photo is of 'the house'...The one we haven't bought yet...but are trying to....the only real damage to speak of is the fence in the backyard...and the ceiling fans on the porch lost their blades...I didn't look inside...but from the street it looked Okie Dokie...

Day 155

We lost power at about 9:45...
We are in the heat...and dark...
I went into work today to start damage assessment...and it it a pretty broad brush of damage across the whole area...
The current speculation is it could be 2 to 4 weeks before power is completely restored...100% of the area is without power...
We are going to try to relocate to a friends house who has a natural gas generator...so...we'll see...
Overall, we fared well...Remind me to tell you the mirror story...

Day 154 - 9 am

All's well...
We are getting sustained winds around 40-50 miles and hour...and some stronger gusts...
Rainfall is generally not as heavy as we were expecting...Power is still on...and the wind just got so loud that we had to turn the volume up on the TV...