Hello again!

It's been a busy couple of weeks.

The day after my last post, my son came through town and spent some time with me. He was driving across country, from Florida to California, and stopped off to spend a few days with me.

He headed west out of New Orleans on Saturday morning....only to be stopped just east of Baton Rouge by flood water over the road. After several hours stranded there on I-12, he hopped a ride on a National Guard truck to an emergency shelter; like many others, he abandoned his car on the highway.

Yep, he ended up right in the middle of the record floods in South Louisiana.

We stayed in touch that night by text. After a sleepless night, I hopped in my car and drove out I-10, which was open early in the morning, and picked him up in Baton Rouge. We returned to New Orleans, and three days later drove out again to rescue his car from a tow-yard. It had taken on two inches of water in the passenger cabin, but the engine was dry. We were able to drive it back to New Orleans.

By this time, he was already some five days behind schedule. I had already started my first class at the university; he was due for a meeting at his university, Cal Berkeley, on the upcoming Monday. The car was checked out by my mechanic, and then taken to a detail shop to deal with the water damage.

It was nice to have him with me for a few more days, but it was time to get him back to California. I promised to deal with his car, and he flew out a week ago yesterday.

We'd shipped my car here by auto-transport when I moved here from Los Angeles; I contacted the same company and got a quote.

The car, when I picked it up on Monday, was in good shape. The shop had removed the seats and carpet, and removed and replaced the under-carpet padding. Then they'd steam-cleaned the carpet, reinstalled it and the seats. When I picked it up, there was a faint funk smell that I couldn't swear hadn't been there before the flood; but the dank, muddy, moldy greenhouse smell that had greeted us in the tow-yard was gone. I bought an air-freshener and put it in one of the cup-holders.

Yesterday, I drove to the Truck Stop on Elysian Fields and dropped the car off with two nice young guys from Miami who were driving the auto-transport truck to California. Bye!!

As far as the floods go, we are among the lucky folks. All we lost was a little time and a little money. There are other people who've lost their homes, their livelihood, and their loved ones. Please take a minute to give generously to flood victims. Here are a few good organizations that need your help:

Second Harvest, New Orleans.

American Red Cross

American Humane Society