Inching Forward

Things continue to inch forward all around. Yesterday morning is was very windy and cool, so I decided to do an easy ride down St. Charles Ave. and Prytania in order to avoid the unbuffered gusts up on the levee. Most of St. Charles Ave., especially around Tulane and Loyola, looks no different than it did B.K. (Before Katrina), and I even spotted a number of uniformed students returning to McGee's high school for their first day of B.K. classes. Back at the house I called Entergy about the leaking gas meter and got to work on the computer and telephone. It was great working out of the house where I had full telephone access, although the dial-up internet connection was a little slower than I'd like. I needed to leave by 2:30 to pick The Wife up at the Baton Rouge airport, so I was hoping that Entergy would show up sooner rather than later. Naturally, after fairly quiet day, everything started happening around 2:00. There was a little bit of a crisis with work involving FEMA, so I was on the phone trying to track a few people down when, of course, the doorbell rang. I pointed the Entergy guy at the gas meter in the basement, and while he worked replacing it, I ran around trying to pack up with my cellphone in my ear. I was about ten minutes from the airport when The Wife called. Her flight had arrived a bit early, but I was close enough and it worked out fine. So progress on getting the house back in shape is inching forward. I should hear something from the insurance company some time this week. The back yard is presentable again, the basement is somewhat reorganized. The gas leak has been stopped so I'll be able to light the pilot lights on the stove and we'll have at least a little heat from the old unvented gas heater in the living room.

This morning up in Jackson, LA., it was somewhere around 39-40F when I got up to ride. Luckily I had thrown a bunch of winter riding stuff into my bag before I left N.O., so other than cold feet I was OK and got in a 22 miles or so before work. I am definitely in winter training mode now, and it's especially difficult to make any hard efforts when riding alone on a quiet road. By the time I got back to the house my forearms and hands were cold enough to make it difficult to turn the key in the lock and my toes didn't warm back up for half an hour.