The Information Super-Frog

Quiet New Years here at Villa Ranocchio, intending to stay in. I plan to make risotto this evening, and Ms H plans pancakes for tomorrow. We have bubbly & oj for mimosas, and some tasty cheeses.

Less pleasantly, a distinctive bad smell manifested the other day. I recognized it from a similar about 5 years ago - dead mouse. I looked and raked under our raised house, but soon became quite sure it's in the narrow space between the roof & ceiling towards the back of the house, too narrow for attic space but room enough for a rodent. Yesterday I went to the hardware store to get some heavy duty stink fighter - activated charcoal, gonzo, etc - but the hardware store had none. They directed me to the large pet supply shop down the street. Fellow at the pet supply shop said they used to have some stuff that worked great, but they haven't been able to get it for months. I phoned a large hardware store in suburbs - nope they don't have anything. So I got a few regular anti-odor supplies at the drugstore - which help some but aren't up to the task. So it will be a couple days before the heavy duty stuff ordered is delivered.
About 90% of the stink is in the back bathroom, and most of the last 10% the alcove on the other side of a wall from the bathroom that connects to the master bedroom. Ms H adjourned to the daybed/guest bed in her office on the other side of the house. I stayed in the main bedroom, which wasn't bad with the windows open, since fortunately the weather is mild.

"WASHINGTON (AP): The government's disaster chief waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region – and gave them two days to arrive, according to internal documents.

"Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims."

(AP story via WWL)

Note that in '69, President Nixon mobilized the National Guard BEFORE Hurricane Camile actually hit.
And the country had the Vietnam War going on at the same time.

Also, a UPI story of Nagin's latest evacuation order entitles it "Roust begins of New Orleans squatters"

How does one become deemed a "squatter" in one's own home?

I HOPE the order is designed to give law officers the power to force evacuation of criminals and it will be very selectively used, rather than to force people from their homes who are actually set with enough supplies as emergency planners long told them to be.