More Random Observations

I have to say, Memphis, TN is a beautiful place.  I enjoy my 20 mile ride to work every day.  
It starts out with a short drive (about a third of the way) on interstate highways, then another third on commercial and suburban street (4 and 6 lane) and finally the last third is all rural, woods and cotton fields.  It’s a really pretty drive.

One of the many down sides to being stuck in Memphis is that Linda is using the time here in our two-room suite to spoil Maynard rotten!!  Almost every night he finds his way into her lap, or goes to sleep next to her on the pull-out couch.  Our (fairly) new couch back in New Orleans is doomed!


Someone asked me via email if the photo on the blog is really me.  In case anyone else is wondering, no it isn’t.  It’s British actor Robby Coltrane in his role as Hagrid from the Harry Potter movies.  People have been known to make comparisons between him and me when I get a little shaggy and let my beard grow too long.

Which reminds me, while in Uganda this past July, we overheard a bunch of young boys in the back of a pickup truck talking about “Father Christmas” and pointing to me.  I asked our Ugandan driver, Fr. Augustine, who Father Christmas was in Uganda.  He said he came at Christmas time and gave out candy and sweets to the children.  As it happened, we bring a lot of candy with us on our trip to give to the kids, so while driving next to the truck I took handfuls of candy and threw them to the boys.  They must have thought Father Christmas was in Kampala on summer vacation!

Speaking of New Orleans (ok, I wasn’t speaking of New Orleans, but I WAS thinking about it), I wonder how the hurricane is going to impact the political makeup and climate in Southeast Louisiana.  A very large part of the predominantly black and Democratic population has been driven out of the state, at least temporarily.  With a mayoral election coming up in the not too distant future, the question becomes how will these people be able to vote?  Or, will they?  How can you distinguish between an evacuee who intends to return to NOLA, as opposed to an evacuee who opts to remain where he or she has settled, found employment and become a part of a new community?  What will happen to Louisiana representation in Congress?  It’s based on population, and tens of thousands of people are no longer in Southeast Louisiana, or anywhere in Louisiana for that matter.  The hurricane continues to stretch out its tentacles into all areas of our lives long after it’s gone.

My daughter and her kids should be driving back to New Orleans tomorrow.  Please pray for her trip to be safe and uneventful.  Hopefully we will all be reunited in New Orleans soon.

We ask that God’s blessings be on each and every one of you.  Take care and know that we love you.

Dean

Friday, October 14th

It's 6:20AM Friday morning and I should be getting ready for work. It's been a long week for being so short (Monday holiday, sick tuesday). Have you ever noticed that since holidays have been switched to Mondays (mostly) that work weeks don't seem shorter? Something about that Friday holiday! With Monday holidays, Tuesday becomes Monday, but by the time you get to Friday it feels like a whole week.

I AM DA MAN!!! - Yesterday afternoon we were given a new desk in our suite to replace the table that was in there. Once it was installed I found the internet connection didn't work any more. Boy was I ever grumpy. I tried releasing and resetting my IP address, I tried unplugging the modem and letting it reset. I was really frustrated and admittedly getting a bit short tempered. I tried calling the front desk, but they informed me that maintenance was gone for the day (like maintenance was actually going to fix it?). Finally, in desperation I got down on the floor one more time and started looking at every connection from beginning to end. I finally figured out that the furniture installers had switched the telephone lines into the modem (DSL). Once I connected them correctly, well, you are reading the results... back up on the internet. YEAH!!!

A good friend of ours, Fr. Deo from Uganada, is in Rome at university. He is in need of encouraging prayer, so please put him on your prayer list and ask God to give him perseverence and hope. I know he will do well and look forward to seeing him again when he has completed his studies.

Got a call from Mikey last night. He's doing well in Houston. Should have cable hookup soon and will be back on line in no time. We really miss the kids.

We can hardly wait for Thanksgiving to get together again. Separation is really adding a new dimension to the holidays for us. The anticipation of being together as family, and the time limitation placed on the reunion makes each moment together that much more precious. Time... the great unknown in our lives. How much do we have? How much have we wasted thinking we have plenty? What would we do differently if we knew exactly how much (or how little) time we had left on this earth?

Maybe we could try to be more appreciative of what is most important, family, friends, people we meet in the course of our daily lives. Life is a gift from a loving God that we should share with one another abundantly, not skimpingly. With that thought, I'm off to share what I have with my coworkers.

Take care and God bless you!!!

Dean

Tuesday, October 11th

We made it back to Memphis. The ride was pleasant, uneventful and long. Well, only six and a half hours, but it sure dragged. It gave us plenty of time to think about the weekend and the future. Somehow we have to get control of the situation in NOLA, even though we're in Memphis. Of course, we'll be competing for all the services we will need. Blue roofs are everywhere already. Judging from the wood and drywall piled in the streets, contractors will be a hot commodity, too.

It looks like a lot of places have opened with reduced staff. Many places are using drive-up only. Job opportunities are beginning to appear. One fast food burger place had a help wanted sign advertising salaries up to $9/hour. Perhaps I should be considering a career change?

We left wondering just when the next visit would be. Thanksgiving, perhaps? That would be the first time everyone would be together again, including our daughter and the kids. I really miss the grandkids! I hear our grandson has been a soccer star at his new school. I hope he can keep it up back in New Orleans. It's especially tough on them, they've had to leave friends, make new ones, now go home where probably not all their friends will be, and then will have to make new friends again. Plus, switching schools is always stressful; you start learning whatever the school is teaching, which may not be the same as the next school.

Thanksgiving is also our youngest son's girlfriend's birthday, so maybe we can do something to celebrate and possibly meet her parents at the same time. Who knows? She is really sweet and we like her a lot!

Oh, I forgot to mention that Friday evening we were talking with our neighbor from across the street when a car drove by and we heard "BAM!!". Linda thought he might have hit one of our cats and bounced it against our car. Actually, he hit our car. Apparently his mirror caught our mirror and spun it forward, knocking the mirror itself out of the housing. He just continued on down the street like nothing had happened. Linda and I jumped into our car and gave chase. We caught up with him at the ferry landing as he was heading into one of the local watering holes. He had already had plenty of "water" and really didn't need any more. Claimed he never realized he had hit anything. Just one more thing to add to the aggravation of it all!

Today didn't begin too well, either. About 3AM I experienced what I can only describe as the New Orleans version of "Montezuma's Revenge". I ended up staying home while Linda went in to work. It's starting to pass ;-)= so I decided to have a go at this journaling thing again.

It sounds like the new class of deacons won't be ordained in December as originally planned. They're going to finish up their studies in the spring, and then will be ordained. That's tough. It's a long road, and this makes it even longer. But, they've all had the experience of Katrina and Rita to bring to their ministries when they receive the laying on of hands. We should all be able to bring more patience, more tolerance, more empathy to bear in our ministry. If we can keep our faith in God and our Lord, Jesus, and continue to share that faith with one another it will be an important part of a healing process that will take weeks, months, even years.

I think I've said before that we will most likely be here in Memphis at least three months, and perhaps six, possibly (hopefully not) longer. When we first arrived, almost everyone we met viewed us (a collective us, everyone they encountered from Louisiana) as evacuees, victims, even refugees from the storm. The priest at Holy Spirit, during one of his homilies, mentioned their "Wednesday Night Suppers" and how Katrina victims were invited to attend for free, and would continue to be for as long as they were in the area. We're into our fifth week now. As wonderful and warm and generous as the people here have been, and continue to be, I can't help but wonder if or when our welcome will wear out.

Please continue to pray for us. I'm also asking for prayers for our benefactors and their families, and especially for the victims of the earthquake in India and Pakistan. Until next time, may God continue to bless you.

Dean

Monday, October 10th - Random Thoughts

We're getting ready to head back to Memphis. Just started gathering some clothes better suited to a cooler climate than New Orleans. Mike and Hannah are gone. Patti's coming back next weekend. Being home was not like being home at all. Even though we were in our home, sleeping in our own bed, it wasn't like coming home. Maybe it's knowing that we'll be leaving again for weeks at a time. Maybe it's having refrigerators and freezers that are useless, so there's no perishable food in the house. Maybe it's having some of M & H's things stored here. Maybe it's a combination of all that and more!

In a way I'm glad to be leaving. There is so much to be done, and it can't be done on a weekend. Everyone here needs work done on their homes, or roofs repaired (the insurance people said we need a new roof, that there are holes in ours). It's hard to know where to begin, or who to call. We have to get our metal garage sawed into moveable pieces and taken down. Fences at both houses need replacing. Water damage from the holes in the roof have to be fixed. The brick front that we fought so long and hard for with the HDLC and city Permits people needs to be fixed where the uprooted tree tore it up.

Dinner with Mick and Bev last night was a life saver. Stress and depression are affecting both Linda and I off and on. We seem to be on alternating schedules, which is good, I guess, so that when one of us is down in the dumps the other can support. Just being with Mick and Bev is always uplifting. I wish all my family could meet them. I know you would love them as much as we do, if you did.

Back to packing. I'll try to finish this tonight... or not, as the case may be. Who knows? Anyway, until the next update, from Memphis, take care and God bless you all!!!

Dean

Sunday, October 9th

It's been three days. Three days, man... We just love ya, we just love ya. (That's a not so oblique reference to Woodstock, for you oldies out there!) We are back in Algiers. It's been an interesting, almost surreal experience at times.

We got into town later than expected on Friday (around 7:30). We were able to come in all the way on I-10 and cross the Crescent City Connection. It was already dark, but we met up with Kenny and Ellie and headed over to Kenner to try to get something to eat. We tried three places, two of which had about 50 people on their waiting lists, and one (Olive Garden) had alreadly stopped putting people on the list. We finally found Cafe Roma was open with almost no wait, so we stayed there and had pizza and cokes. It was ok, but they were obviously rushing the food out because the pizzas could have been cooked a bit longer. On the way to the restaurant(s) we noticed that I-10 eastbound was being diverted at Bonnabel Ave, which is the last exit BEFORE New Orleans, so we had to take Huey P. Long bridge to get home.

Saturday we met with the insurance adjustors and tried to clean up around the two addresses. Mowed the lawn and discovered that our looters had made off with all our gas cans!! Every day we find a couple more things that had been taken. To make matters worse, one of the suspected looters was on his porch working on refinishing a table (to make it unrecognizable to the real owner?!?!?) when his roomate came to the door holding a purple maglite flashlight which just happens to be the exact color of the maglite stolen from our laundry room! Hmmm... coinkydink? I doubt it. Later we found a bag of potatoes that had rotted in a cabinet and stunk to high heaven! Ruined the shelf completely.

Saturday evening we all got together and went (earlier) to the Olive Garden in Kenner. We tried to cut through Esplanade Mall, but it is cordoned off, probably to prevent looting, so we were turned around and had to take an alternate route to get there. We got on the waiting list, and after just over an hour were seated. The limited menu still had a lot of variety, and the Asti Spumante was just what the doctor ordered! Tearful goodbyes to Mike and Hannah, then everyone went home, again via Huey P.

Today we slept until the birds woke us, got up and had coffee and started puttering around the house again. So much to do, so little time. About 10 AM we headed to the coffee shop to have breakfast, but didn't actually get there until after 11. We ran into the kids making final preparations to leave, so we stopped to talk to them for awhile. Anyway, once we got to the coffee shop (we're talking 2 blocks, here) it was too late for breakfast, and they weren't really set up for lunch yet. Linda communicated her displeasure in no uncertain terms. If, as they say in Uganda, "A hungry man is an angry man", then a hungry woman is off the charts! Needless to say, we were served lunch.

We were looking around the front apartment of our rental and noticed an envelope stuck behind the washer/dryer combo. After fishing it out, it turned out to contain some sort of voodoo hex doll, complete with pins! On the envelope was written something like, "What goes around comes around" and "You won't ruin anything of mine any more". Maybe a former renter was putting a curse on rodents or roaches? Scary stuff.

Wandering around the neighborhood all you see is piles of trash bags, or piles of tree limbs, or piles of wood from damaged buildings. Our neighbors Guy and Susan said the trash has been picked up three times already!! In five weeks, that is.

Another of our neighbors, Steve, is letting friends stay in his house while his wife and kids are in Pennsylvania, where they are enrolled in school. The school enrollments seem to be hovering at about 60% for those that have reopened. Not all teachers have returned, though, so substitutes are being used, and they are not always accredited, so the quality of education for the short term remains suspect.

Overall the weekend has been eye opening. Speaking with one of the teachers from Holy Name of Mary School, she mentioned that although some stores are open, you can buy things, but they are generally out of what you really want. When she learns that her kids are heading to Baton Rouge, she gives them a shopping list of what to bring home. If you need anything after 6PM you can't get it in Orleans Parish because of the curfew that is still in effect.

It's kind of eerie the way people are trying to cope during the day, then at night they seem to all head to Kenner to try to have a semblance of a normal life by dining out and just enjoying one another's company. Sometimes you can't even tell that the city and surrounding area is in the midst of a disaster, but then you run across a military roadblock, or see some soldiers patrolling down your street. Shakes you back to the harsh reality that is New Orleans, and will continue to be, at least for the next few months.

As always, please continue to pray for us and for all those affected by Katrina and Rita. We need your prayers and appreciate them. Take care, and may God bless you!

Dean

Thursday, October 6th

Our program manager got word today that his dad died. Please pray for him and his family, and for his dad. It’s sad to see how many people are experiencing deaths of family members since the hurricane. I wonder how much is a direct result of all the stress that people are under with the loss of homes, the displacement of families and the uncertainty of what the future holds.

As more and more people go home to assess the damage, the utter devastation that people have experienced becomes more and more evident. One guy I work with talked of taking a flatboat to his home in the Lakeview area of New Orleans and climbing on his roof to get into his house! Another coworker went home after the waters had receeded in Chalmette (St. Bernard) to find that almost all of her family photos and movies were lost. Kids are struggling to adjust to new school environments and fitting in with their classmates, and dealing with the emotional separation from their old school and friends.

It’s Thursday evening. We’re heading back to New Orleans tomorrow for a meeting with the insurance adjustor on Saturday. Hopefully it’ll be a nice trip. A cold front passed through Memphis earlier today so it’s breezy and quite cool right now. Should be a nice, BRISK morning to start our journey. Linda and I just finished eating Taco Bell takeout. I’m not so sure that was a smart move…. Taco Bell the night before we spend 7 hours together in a confined space?

We found our workstations!! They were all shipped to Millington, including those that should have gone to Ft. Worth and Pensacola. So now we wait while NMCI people sort through and isolate all of our equipment, then deliver it to our building. We need about 60 PCs out of 750. I can hardly wait to see how long that will take.

Last night was “Wednesday Night Supper” at Holy Spirit Church. Beef brisket! Dee-licious! So far we have not been disappointed with the dinners they serve. Sarah, the lady who honchos the dinners, is doing an incredible job. The parish continues to impress us. Did we mention that they have two handbell choirs? An adult choir and a youth choir. After hearing the singing, Linda and I are eagerly waiting to hear the handbell choirs perform.

The new suite is not without a few glitches. The a/c in the bedroom apparently froze up so it stopped cooling and began dripping onto the carpet. Today the toilet started gurgling, then soap bubbles appeared in the bowl. The maintenance person said he’d never seen anything like it and really didn’t know what to do about it. I hope it’s a short-lived problem.

My friend, Young Wade, just bought a new Ford F-150 Super Crew 4x4. I’m s-o-o-o green with envy!! I don’t need the 4x4, but a Super Crew would be a great ride. Our ’97 Grand Marquis is showing it’s age, but we’ve had such good luck with them, we’ll probably get another when we finally get rid of this one. Besides, I don’t think I can handle 10 miles per gallon these days. And, we seem to always need a large storage area, so the huge trunk in the Grand Marquis is a big plus.

Guess I’d better wrap this up, CSI is on. We wish you all a wonderful weekend, and may God bless you.

Dean

Lagniappe - A picture of the storm surge.

Tuesday, October 4th

We have moved!! We are now in a suite. Hey! Wanna play a game? If you add 106 to our original room number you’ll get our new room number. Still at the La Quinta. Good thing there’s a Corky’s nearby, cause there isn’t a Denny’s next door. We had Corky’s take-out for dinner. It’s nice to be able to run to Corky’s, go through the drive-thru and come home in 15 minutes! We still have to try Ruth’s Chris and Brennan’s here. Neither Linda or I have worked up the nerve to try the fresh sushi at the BP gas station around the corner.

Maynard is enjoying the new digs. Right now he’s in Linda’s lap on the pull-out sofa in the living room. I’m sitting at the computer (duh!!) and The Great Race is on. I’m not a fan of TGR, so I’ll probably go into the bedroom when I finish this and watch something else. Might be a good time for some solitude and reflection, as well.

The kids have started moving their stuff to Houston. They’re going to make a couple of trips to get it all over there. Then, hopefully, Saturday we’ll all have one last big get together when we go to New Orleans.

Just spoke with our friend and tenant, Dan, who tells us that although Algiers is open, it’s still not a people friendly place. Too few stores and gas stations and not all utilities are up yet. The boys haven’t complained, they just drive to where the services they need are available.

The weather is still holding here in Memphis. Comfortable mornings and hot afternoons. No rain in days. It’s really pretty here, but did I mention they’re living on a major fault line? And you just know that nothing is built to withstand a major earthquake. Just our luck, run from “hurricane alley” and end up “living on the fault line”.

Most of the people I work with have arrived in the last day or two. It’s nice to have people around, but frustrating that not everything works yet. Some phones are still out, all our NMCI workstations are somewhere else, including mine, so everything that I was working on is, for the time being, lost.

That’s about it for today. Keep praying! We love ya!!

Dean

Sunday, October 2nd

Called home to New Orleans today. The kids left for Houston. Another page has turned in our book of life, a new chapter begins. We’re going home next weekend to meet with the insurance adjustor, so I hope we get to see everyone together one more time. It’s really hard to think even if we were to return home, the family wouldn’t be whole any more.

I spoke to Fr. John a few days ago and he said they’re saying Mass in the school cafeteria on weekends, and in the chapel during the week. Apparently the church suffered a lot of damage that wasn’t immediately apparent. He said that Holy Name of Mary School is reopening tomorrow. My daughter has decided to return to New Orleans in two weeks and put the grand kids back in school there. I hope Children’s Hospital will reconsider and give her her old job back.

Fr. John is going to Rome tomorrow for the ordination of a friend. We wish him a safe trip and look forward to his return.

The archdiocese is having to lay off 900 employees. So many parishes have suffered damage and have lost parishioners and are no longer getting any contributions from parishioners who are no longer there. If anyone who reads this is interested in helping out, any cash donations to the Archdiocese of New Orleans would be greatly appreciated.

Today was “Life Chain” Sunday to promote the sanctity of life. The diocese of Memphis formed a “life chain” along Poplar Ave. It stretched for miles. Everyone along the route held up signs that said “Abortion Kills Children” and “Abortion Hurts Women”. Many young men and women and even teens participated. It was truly heartwarming to see such an expression of people who appreciate the sanctity of life.

I don’t know how much longer I can stand living in one room with the pets. It’s a hassle getting the room cleaned because the cleaning staff won’t come in unless we take our boxer outside, and during the week we’re at work and unable to do it. So we’ve had to pick up the pieces of bird seed that fall on the carpet by hand, or borrow the hotel vacuum cleaner and vacuum ourselves and every night we go to the main desk and get fresh towels, washcloths, etc. I’ve started looking at perhaps a furnished apartment as an option, or even considering taking the wonderful couple from Holy Spirit up on their offer to let us stay with them. We’re getting desperate!!

Through all the turmoil and flux in our lives, it is difficult to find the time to stop and spend time in prayer with God. This journal helps some, as many of the thoughts I put down are intended for Him, to let Him know how I feel. I pray every day for the strength and patience to see this through. There is no other option, but it is overwhelming at times.

At the risk of being redundant, I want to once again say “Thank you” to everyone who has been with us through all this. Thanks for the prayers, the good wishes, the phone calls, the letters, the monetary contributions, the offers of help that we may not have taken you up on (yet!! (). I can’t begin to tell you how much your support and love has meant in sustaining us through everything. You are God’s gift to us, and I thank Him for you every day, often while journaling on the blog.

I pray that all your prayers and hopes are realized in the goodness of God’s infinite love. Take care, and know that we love you.

Dean

October 1st - Update

I went and Googled “COGIC conference Memphis” and found out that it isn’t until Nov 7th – 15th. My bad!! No wonder I haven’t seen much about it. Seems that the Church of God in Christ headquarters is right here, in Memphis. Swell. I have enough trouble dealing with Charismatic Catholics, now I’ll be surrounded by Pentecostal Christians. :-)

Went to a Perkins restaurant for brunch and ordered what I would have ordered at IHOP. Guess I’m just a creature of habit. Maybe, maybe not, because we went to a different Perkins for supper and I had pot roast, which is something I rarely order. It was pretty good but the service was slow!! Finished it off with some French silk pie, and a virtual cup of decaf coffee. (I ordered it, but didn’t get it).

After talking about all the wonderful weather, it rained here today. Just a light rain, with a little bit of thunder and I think I saw lightning only once. At least it’ll keep the grass and trees green a bit longer.

Still trying to decide what to do for long-term accommodations. We’re looking into a suite here at the La Quinta, but won’t know for awhile if any are available. In the meantime we also have reservations for a suite at Amerisuites, which is right next to the La Quinta. There’s also a Residence Inn very near that we’re going to check out. We like the area we’re in. It’s close to the restaurants we like, has lots of malls and strip malls close by and is convenient to the interstate highway system. Plus, and a BIG plus, we really are enjoying Holy Spirit Church.

This weekend Holy Spirit Church had their Haiti Run fundraiser to support the medical mission the parish sponsors. Starting at 3PM on Friday and going until 3PM on Saturday the run lasts for 24 hours. People sign up for what time they want to run, and teams run around the clock. They also had a wonderful spaghetti supper Friday night, which Linda and I attended. There was a silent auction, mainly of items that had been brought back from previous missions to Haiti. Very nice wood carvings and metal work.

Well, gotta go make some coffee. We’re watching a little TV while waiting for the season opener of Saturday Night Live. Until next time, God bless!!

Dean

Saturday, October 1st

A new month in limbo! 5 weeks of hotel/motel living! This is really getting old fast. I have to admit some envy of our New Orleans friends who returned home yesterday to stay. Now that we have electricity to our homes it makes it that much more difficult to know we're stuck here in Memphis because of our jobs. I guess it wouldn't be quite so bad if at least we enjoyed what we're doing here, but unfortunately that's not the case. Everything is disorganized, decisions are made based on everything but the reality of the situation.

We used to go to the Grand Casino in Gulfport about once a month, on a Saturday, to enjoy their buffet (TWO flowing chocolate fountains!), but we won't be doing that again anytime soon, as these pictures will attest http://community.webshots.com/album/464938589ZoqqNs. It was a nice way to have some family fun and drive along the Gulf Coast and enjoy the weather and scenery. I miss it. I miss the kids.

Don't get me wrong, Memphis and the surrounding countryside is really beautiful. We drive past forest and rolling cotton fields every day on the way to work. The cotton has just ripened and we've been watching the cotton picking machines at work. They look kind of like a street sweeper. The weather has been incredible this past 3 weeks, with almost no rain. Hot, yes in deed, but lately it's been mid 40's - 50's in the morning and 80's in the afternoon. Don't know how cold the winter will be, but it looks like we're going to find out.

The COGIC conference begins today. Haven't seen much activity regarding it yet, but it's supposed to be a really big deal here every year.

Getting ready to go get breakfast and do some errands that we put off during the week because of work. Guess this will have to do. For now I wish you all the best, and may the Lord continue to bless you and keep you close to Him, and may our Mother Mary, Queen of the Universe continue to smile on us and bring us ever closer to her Son.

Dean