-
Alfie the muncher
They were short on volunteers today for all the tasks, so I bit the bullet and went back to the Pit Bull Warehouse, aka Animal Rescue New Orleans. ARNO is a no-kill private shelter, the pet project of a lady who, thankfully, is better organized than the one we cleaned up after last year. But it's still a no-budget operation, struggling to keep up ( Read more... ) -
By the levee mud
Good day today. We went out to Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife refuge to do some wetlands remediation. During Katrina, the storm surge lifted a bunch of huge industrial barges right over the levee and into the freshwater swamp. When they towed them out, they scraped off most of the vegetation as well. So we were out on the mudflat, dibbling holes ( Read more... ) -
Return to the lower 9th
We've been busy little people in NOLA, at least sort of. The Hands-on volunteer org is OK, and they put us up in a dorm and feed us, sort of (PBJ, anyone?) But their assigned work is somewhat lacking in gravitas. I've spent a day cleaning up at an animal rescue place (mostly pit bulls and other nonadoptables) and two days screwing in light ( Read more... ) -
New Orleans again, or still...
Yeah, the rest of the world has gone on, but I'm going back to N.O. with the college group. Have no idea what we'll be doing - I thinking gutting is pretty much done (though some of the young guys really want to try their hands at it), and the people whose houses have been gutted don't have money for materials to rebuild, even with free labor. ( Read more... ) -
Overpopulation
"According to the International Programs Center, U.S. Census Bureau, the total population of the World, projected to 03/01/08 at 16:07 GMT (EST+5) is
6,653,921,637"
Or you can watch it tick away quickly at http://www.optimumpopulation.org/index.html
STOP BREEDING! JUST STOP IT! -
Happy HIV testing day - a bit late
I didn't get around to posting on June 27th, the official holiday, but it's a good thing to do any day. If you are a sexually active adult, get thyself to a testery. To find a local one, go here: http://www.hivtest.org/
HIV - it's not just for gay guys any more (as if it ever were). -
Interesting family
Went to a DG family gathering yesterday, celebrating the niece graduating HS. It was interesting. His family almost makes mine look functional. Mother was not speaking to Older Brother due to some slight he inflicted while drunk, and no longer remembers. OB and Younger Brother are not talking to Mother, for indeterminate reasons. YB is not speaking ( Read more... ) -
Gators and Gulf
Yesterday was our day off, so we spent the morning doing a boat tour of the swamps & bayous, and watched gators and anhingas and other watery dwellers. Got to see a water snake catch a catfish and swim it to shore. Our Kenyan student said it reminded her of Africa. Then we piled back in the vans and headed to the beaches of Mississippi. They're all ( Read more... ) -
Going out with a Gut
Unbelievably, this is the last work day. Finished off the week with another gut - of a house in central New Orleans that I would have thought not worth working on. Bad floors, termite damage, mold, the works. But we tore down the ceilings and dumped out lath (the plaster walls came down yesterday) and did the usual sweep up of rat leavings, dust, ( Read more... ) -
Animal stories from New Orleans
After 3 days of hard gutting, I spent yesterday and today working at animal shelters in Slidell, LA. This is about 30 miles from New Orleans, but was just as flooded and flattened. Well, the whole coast was around here ( Read more... )