There is a pet shelter at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette, right next to the Cajundome. Evacuees may bring their pets there for housing. They have PLENTY of food, water, crates, cages, bedding and newspaper, BUT the owners are responsible for feeding, watering, walking and medicating their own pets. Interested parties may call Lafayette Parish Animal Control at 337-291-5644 for more information.

Also many area vets are accepting animals right now, until they fill up. Get the Yellow Pages out!

Someday Memphis will experience a large earthquake. I have heard this prediction for decades. When it does happen I will be horrified for the people and animals. Doug will be horrified by the loss of architecture and memories. Doug is a romantic. Not a flowers on your anniversary kind of romantic but a Byron-esque romantic who sees the past through a filter that makes it all seem wonderful.
“The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surrounded
The nights of wonder”
As we are all captured by the horror Katrina left behind, Doug is a wounded soul, holding tightly to childhood memories of living in New Orleans. I want to take a caravan of buses down and bring children up to Knoxville like World War I refugees. I want to protect them from the pain and let them go to school and karate and play happily while their parents find new homes and jobs. What Doug needs will have to wait until the call comes out, but when it comes, he will go. Doug will need to go back in time and help rebuild the past so that New Orleans has a future.
“With friends surrounded
The dawn mist growing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever“

On second thought, I think Doug would have told me to take the children and head out of the area. He would have stayed behind to keep programming until the power went out and then he would have been too busy getting the house ready (moving things to the attic) to evacuate before travel became impossible.

Ecological theories of criminal behavior:
Social disorganization
Ecological deviance

Could this happen to you? Assuming I would live in a coastal town (I won’t) and assuming I wouldn’t have evacuated (I would have done everything in my power to do so), would I be looting and behaving criminally? I am not talking about the people stealing food, water and diapers. I am talking about the gangs of people trying to break into the Children’s Hospital to steal drugs, breaking into office buildings to steal computers and shooting at anyone who tries to stop them. At what point did survival instinct become something much more dangerous? We are safe in East TN but people are already panicking about a gas shortage. Will people be shooting each other over a tank of gas this hot, holiday weekend? Every sociologist knows the old line that “Murder rates go up when people eat more ice cream”.

A 2002 speech to the UN addressed disasters in areas affected by poverty.

The pictures of people carrying infant carriers on flooded streets and handing babies to boats for rescue gives me chills. This site has information on baby-wearing that would help any parent of a small child.

from Blogging Baby

Being a typical Monday, there were many miles to cover to get all the children to and from their various activities. Doug took over getting Tommy to and from therapy since I haven’t found a way to clone myself yet. I took the three youngest to Noah’s karate class. Evan immediately decided he was hungry which is fine except that the place was packed and I was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Luckily Noah doesn’t get embarassed or he might have complained about being the only person there whose mother was sitting on the floor breastfeeding and singing like a crazed hippie. Amy decided to take herself potty while I was feeding Evan but left the bathroom door wide open. I considered trying to hoist myself off the floor and crossing the crowded room to close the door but with a baby attached I decided I would be a bigger spectacle than Amy. Crazy hippie moms don’t care if their children close the bathroom door. Amy made her way back and I praised her for staying dry all day. Karate class is primarily a loud activity but for a few minutes each class the music is turned down and the students listen quietly to the teacher. It was during this moment that Amy loudly asked me “Did Evan come out your butt”. I tried to hush her so I could whisper a better explanation but she just shook her head and stomped off while announcing to the already aghast parents that “The baby came out your butt”. Crazy hippie moms have very confused children. At this point I stopped making eye contact with anyone in the room and decided to have a conversation with a well-fed, happy Evan. From across the room Amy sensed that she was not the center of my attention. Amy appeared in an instant, grabbed the edge of the blanket where Evan was wiggling and she pulled, hard. Evan flipped over onto his tummy before I slapped my arms down on the blanket to prevent Amy from removing it completely out from under her brother. I rolled Evan onto his back and Amy flopped down beside him. I played along and made faces and sounds at the both of them while holding their bare feet. This moment of bliss lasted only a few minutes before Noah was finished and it was time to race through traffic to pick Sarah up from her student council meeting. I buckled Evan in his infant seat and asked Amy to hold my hand. Nope. Amy was still on the floor kicking her feet in the air and proclaiming herself a baby. Crazy hippie mom must neglect that poor attention starved 3-year-old. I eventually managed to get everyone to the car and mentally encouraged myself that we would be home soon. As soon as we were stuck at a red light in a left turn only lane, Amy spoke up. “I hafta go potty.” Crazy hippie mom thought about how much easier it is when little boys have potty needs while traveling. Doug can take Noah to his next karate class. I’m staying home.

In a few weeks, Sarah is going on a school trip to Dauphin Island for a week. I am soooo happy she isn’t there now. I was nervous about the long drive and the land bridge but now I'll be anxiously watching the weather.

Let the rains begin. I know everyone on the Gulf Coast is eager for the rains to end but I need the rains to get started. I am one of those freaky people who get terrible headaches just before rain. Headaches that start off as a shadow and build no matter how many Tylenol I ingest. The relief comes quickly once the rain begins although an echo lingers for a day or so. Doug likes to joke that I have some leftover primitive human barometer in my head. I do wonder why I am chosen for these stupid headaches that make me want to order Vicodan from the spammers.

Doug and the older boys went camping this weekend. I got bored with laundry and needed an activity to do while holding Evan so, I made a new blog.

Did you know that House of Mouse is on the Disney Channel every morning at 4:30 a.m.? Evan knows and has a wake-up call set so that he won't miss a single fascinating episode.