Mold...
Here's a LINK to a story about "monster mold" in New Orleans.Mold is one of my major issues when it comes to getting things out of my place in New Orleans; I have mold allergies, in fact most people do and just don't know about it. My place didn't flood, but there was a minor water problem from the A/C window unit that happened just before I left; there was a wet spot that covered a couple of square feet on the carpet near my desk the morning Robert and I left. There was also roof damage on the other side of the house where Sammy and Michael lived. I know that they put some 4 x 8 foot sheets of plywood over the holes in the roof because they told me and I also saw them on Google Earth...
The attic is open over both sides of the building, so there could have been further water issues on my side.I'm about 90% sure that there's at least some mold in the house and that's enough to rule out moving the new bed, (pity, I only got to sleep in it for a few weeks). The furniture was mostly crap and I wouldn't have moved it under any circumstances.
I'll probably only take out of the place some dishes, pots, some old and cherished knives (one of them, I have had for my entire career in the food biz, another is a pre-war German steel flexible carving knife that had survived hurricane Besty's flooding that I found in an old restaurant supply house back room years ago, totally irreplaceable), etc., kitchen things, hopefully my K-5a mixer
.As for the desktop computer, (I saved most of my data to a portable hard drive before I left), the various bits of audio equipment, TV's and the like, the humidity prolly ate the little circuits, if the mold didn't get to them.
The books. About 600 of them, and the shelves; most likely a loss, and probably the greatest one for me. My little library was a comfort to me many times; good times, bad times over the last ten years, it was there when I needed it. There were only a few that were unreplaceable, the rest can be found again. I've already started looking for a good source for book shelves; it won't take me long to start filling them up, it never does.
It's mostly going to be a big pain in the ass to deal with. I've got to find and pull or destroy any personal papers that have any identification information on them. I've got to throw out the refrigerator, (I've talked to people who have gotten back to NO and made the huge mistake of opening a door...). I've got to drag all the rest of the stuff out to the street and maybe try to sell whatever looks OK, if there's anyone there to buy. I need to sell my scooter. And I need to do all this at some undetermined point in the future; which could happen right after my second surgury for my shoulder, (and that would make it impossible for me, the infection risk...) or it could happen after I go back to work, it's just not known. At some point, there is supposed to be a FEMA inspection of my place, but at this point, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon unless someone wants the property. (Robert, who owns his place, is not expecting an insurance adjuster or FEMA for months). I will also probably have to have enough food and water to last two days. The power will not be on in my place even if it's on in the hood, because of the roof damage. May have to sleep in the car while I'm there. It's a pain in the ass just to think about it!
There's a part of me that wants to see the city, the damage, the old favorite places, to just see what it looks like now... and another part of me that just wants to remember the way things were and move on.New Orleans will never be the same for me again, but then that was already the case to some extent before Katrina; it's true that you can never really "go home" again. Things change, people come and go and as the years go by, a lot more of what binds you to a place are the memories.
And those I have with me.
Here's a LINK to a story about "monster mold" in New Orleans.Mold is one of my major issues when it comes to getting things out of my place in New Orleans; I have mold allergies, in fact most people do and just don't know about it. My place didn't flood, but there was a minor water problem from the A/C window unit that happened just before I left; there was a wet spot that covered a couple of square feet on the carpet near my desk the morning Robert and I left. There was also roof damage on the other side of the house where Sammy and Michael lived. I know that they put some 4 x 8 foot sheets of plywood over the holes in the roof because they told me and I also saw them on Google Earth...
The attic is open over both sides of the building, so there could have been further water issues on my side.I'm about 90% sure that there's at least some mold in the house and that's enough to rule out moving the new bed, (pity, I only got to sleep in it for a few weeks). The furniture was mostly crap and I wouldn't have moved it under any circumstances.
I'll probably only take out of the place some dishes, pots, some old and cherished knives (one of them, I have had for my entire career in the food biz, another is a pre-war German steel flexible carving knife that had survived hurricane Besty's flooding that I found in an old restaurant supply house back room years ago, totally irreplaceable), etc., kitchen things, hopefully my K-5a mixer
.As for the desktop computer, (I saved most of my data to a portable hard drive before I left), the various bits of audio equipment, TV's and the like, the humidity prolly ate the little circuits, if the mold didn't get to them.
The books. About 600 of them, and the shelves; most likely a loss, and probably the greatest one for me. My little library was a comfort to me many times; good times, bad times over the last ten years, it was there when I needed it. There were only a few that were unreplaceable, the rest can be found again. I've already started looking for a good source for book shelves; it won't take me long to start filling them up, it never does.
It's mostly going to be a big pain in the ass to deal with. I've got to find and pull or destroy any personal papers that have any identification information on them. I've got to throw out the refrigerator, (I've talked to people who have gotten back to NO and made the huge mistake of opening a door...). I've got to drag all the rest of the stuff out to the street and maybe try to sell whatever looks OK, if there's anyone there to buy. I need to sell my scooter. And I need to do all this at some undetermined point in the future; which could happen right after my second surgury for my shoulder, (and that would make it impossible for me, the infection risk...) or it could happen after I go back to work, it's just not known. At some point, there is supposed to be a FEMA inspection of my place, but at this point, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon unless someone wants the property. (Robert, who owns his place, is not expecting an insurance adjuster or FEMA for months). I will also probably have to have enough food and water to last two days. The power will not be on in my place even if it's on in the hood, because of the roof damage. May have to sleep in the car while I'm there. It's a pain in the ass just to think about it!
There's a part of me that wants to see the city, the damage, the old favorite places, to just see what it looks like now... and another part of me that just wants to remember the way things were and move on.New Orleans will never be the same for me again, but then that was already the case to some extent before Katrina; it's true that you can never really "go home" again. Things change, people come and go and as the years go by, a lot more of what binds you to a place are the memories.
And those I have with me.
durlx
posted by durlx at 9/27/2005 08:31:00 PM
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