Rose's Seranade

After dinner last night we met up with this fantastic singer on the street who seranaded Rose with a birthday tune! Have a look:

Great line from the guy: I have a record. You can get it at the New Orleans Police Department. It's quite long!

Taking a little bit of NOLA home with us.

Me again (Carla). A few of us had a little (planned) diversion last night. We got tattoed! Jen, Dot, and I all got Fluer de Leis tattoes in different styles and places on our parts! Jen and I both had been planning on getting Fluer de Leis tattoes eventually and with more talking decided to get 'er done here. Why not? NOLA is what is represents so why not get them here. They didn't hurt! See for yourself...








Oh, they thought they were being soooo funny!

My Turn

I've been kind of quiet on this blog so I guess it's my turn at telling you something.

Today the group split up. Half of the folks went back to the Habitat work site to continue work on the 2 houses we have been laboring over all week while the other half (which includes me, I'm Carla, btw) went to Arno - Animal Rescue of New Orleans. I thought it would be a good experience to see, yet another, side of New Orleans I have not seen. Also, I've never volunteered for an animal shelter and wanted to see what that was like. There were a few tugs at the ol' heart strings, for sure. The group was put together after the hurricane and have rescued 6000 dogs and cats in the New Orleans area in just under 2 years. Currently, they are working with placing and housing 2800 animals. At the site we were working at I was quite sure exactly how many were being housed there.

We started out in the morning by getting the dogs out one by one to do their business while the staff worked at cleaning cages. Then we split up on tasks and things needing to get done. Jen worked with the kitties all day cleaning cages and giving them needed love and stimulation, play time. Janet and Kim worked with cleaning some of the dogs, walking them, and giving them needed love and attention as well. I tackled a section of the shelter that desparately needed cleaning. It was in sorry shape but I gave it a good wash down and then I got to get in a little play time with Toby and Razoo. I took to these 2 dogs in the back of the shelter because they were older, like my doggy at home, and they were so in need of some attention and a good ear scratch. Razoo really liked the shower I gave him with the hose but Toby wasn't into it as much. There were so many dogs that we just couldn't even get to. The folks there were so appreciative of the work we did AND the donation of $200 we gave them from our fundraising. It felt so good to know that we had lifted their spirits. That tugged at our hearts just as much as all those lovable dogs and cats that are waiting for adoption.

Oh, also, forgot to mention: this is a no-kill facility. Each animal will stay with them until they are able to give them a forever home. All adoptees do need to meet ARNO's requirements for adoption specific to the animal's needs.

Toby and Razoo waiting for their head-scratch.

Thursday, June 14th

Thursday - whoa! It was one heckuva day!

Our work day on Thursday was pretty typical for the week. We met at the Habitat headquarters in the Musician's Village, then hooked up with our house leader, Eric, and went to the two houses on Galvez.

It was a pretty productive day, all things considered. One of the issues we keep running into is the need to fix mistakes that were done on previous days. This is what we did a lot of today. We kept working on the floor system. I would have thought we'd be done with it by now, but the work goes on.

Others in the group did calking, painting and sanding. I think this work was more rewarding for them because they could track and see their progress.

I shouldn't make it seem like the floor system work wasn't rewarding. It was. It is just a tad bit frustrating to constantly be redoing things. Having an expert set of eyes watching our work at all times is just a luxury that Habitat does not have.

At lunch time Carla, Dottie and I took a fun little field trip. We got in the van and drove north and east from our job site to visit two houses that we had gutted on previous trips. The first place we came to, a two-story gut from last June, looked about the same as it did when we left it. It was vacant, and no work had been done on the interior. Too bad that there was no obvious progress, but one way to look at it is at least the house is still standing!

The other property we visited was more enjoyable. This was the house on Corrine Street where we had interviewed Herman during last year's April trip. We lucked out to find the homeowner, Venny, inside the house. The house really hadn't been touched since we'd left, but currently Venny is working with contractors to get plans made for beginning the rebuild. She was so happy to meet us. Right away she gave us big hugs. Then just before we left she took our a photo album to show us pictures of her house from before Katrina. It was very pretty. We were reminded of the shame of Katrina and how it took good people's lives and turned them completely upsidedown. We hope with all our hearts that Venny can put together the money that's necessary to rebuild her home.

The afternoon was a bit of the same as the morning. We got interrupted for just a short time by a passing storm. The craziest part of the rain was that, unlike Minnesota where rain usually cools everything off, the rain down here just made things more humid and sticky. The sun came out and it felt like we were in a sauna.

Following our work, we went a few separate ways. Angie, Kirsten and I drove down to the Habitat officies which just happens to be only a mile or two from our house. We wanted to drop off our checks but also to possibly buy some t-shirts. The folks at the office were thankful for our checks and were even willing to pose for some pictures. Nice people all around this city!

While the three of us were at the office, some of the others went to the Quarter for - you guessed it - tattoos. Oooooh! Permanent souvenirs. Carla, Jen and Dottie each got different versions of a Flor de Lis (sp). Very becoming, girls! I thought about doing it for an instant, but then lost the courage. I was impressed by Jen when she said that she wanted to get a New Orleans tattoo because her trips to NOLA have marked a change in her life to volunteer more and lead a more giving lifestyle. She said these trips have been life-changing. Way to go Jen!!!

And the beat goes on... I told you this was a busy day. After returning from the Habitat office I had a hankerin' for some seafood and I knew that the Saltwater Grill was just two blocks from our house. I dropped off Kirsten and Angie, then took the PT Cruiser to the Saltwater. I ordered five pounds of boiled crawfish and a shripm po-boy, then drank an Abita outside while I waited for my food. It was a nice little moment. Once home, it was only Rose and me who wanted to dive in to the crawdads. Sam doesn't eat meat, Angie and Kirsten just plugged their noses, and the rest were in the Quarter. Oh well, their loss. The crawdads were wonderful!!! Glad I could squeeze in this super awesome opportunity!!!

Is there more??? Yes!!! After these things we all met in the Quarter for dinner and drinks at 13 Monahan's where the girls got to share their tattoo stories.

Anything else??? Of course. We left the quarter and since the van had to stop at the house to drop off some to-go boxes, Sam, me, Rose, and Angie had the time to swing into Cafe Dumonde. Actually Sam just chauffered us there and drove around until we were done. We all got some gift items, and some coffees and binets too. Another experience you just have to do a couple times while you're in this glorious city!!!

Still more??? For sure - the best was still to come. Next stop - Mid City Bowl for some Rock n Bowling and Zydecko night. What a party!!! This place is an old dillapidated building but has charm up the whazoo. It's a bowling alley but there is a stage set up right adjacent to the lanes - so you can rock and bowl. What a concept! The band that was playing was this group of you guys who were kicin' out the Zydecko. It was just the best. And to make things even more fun we met up with folks from the job site including Cynthia, Beau, and Rocky.
Good times!




We bowled a game and danced until midnight. Can't say you could really find this kind of an experience back home.

Whew! Now are we done??? Not really! Next came a drive down Magazine Street and a trip to the Bon Temp Roulais (sp once again). This place was a smokin', happenin' bar and the place was packed. We did a few drinks in the front of the bar, then went to the back for some music from a blow-you-away brass band. The tuba player was the fella whose house we dedicated on Monday. What a wild scene! The place was packe, no air conditioning, and everyone was dances and having a great old time.

Now I think we're done. Mostly we were except Sam just had to peak his head into his favorite local joint - The Maple Leaf. We did that and saw a three-piece rock band perform three songs before they quit for the night.

Is the day over??? Yes, oh hapy blog reader, it is!!!

Tuesday Night at Jacque-Imo's

Hola! I'm going back in time a bit but thought it was important to document one of the best night's of the trip - and that was Tuesday night.

We walked to Jacque-Imo's which is just down our street a few blocks on Oak Street. What a time we had! We got an awesome table in the back patio. Our waiter was great. We got to meet "the" Jacque-Imo and he swung by a few times to talk with us. We celebrated Rose's 60th birthday with the help of money from friend Vanny back home. And, we got free desserts and champagne. And that's not even to mention the WONDERFUL food we all had. Absolutely one of the best single experiences of the trip.

It's awesome to work hard all day with all these amazing folks, but then it's just as fun to all hang out together at night. Jacque-Imo's was the best - a great time for all of us to hang together and do a group outing.

Later that night some of us went down to the French Quarter. We wanted to do the "Burbon Street" thing, and it was fun. On our way there we saw a brass band that had just broken out on the corner. Unfortunately by the time we parked and walked to where we saw them, they were wrapping up.

But we had much fun, nonetheless. All in all a really great day in NOLA!