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.