Update from NOLA - Current status of my milling plans

[ex-Engineer Wannabe]

Hello to the board from La Place, LA (formerly NOLA)!

Despite the catastrophic damage suffered by many in the greater New Orleans, LA [NOLA] area, my family faired RELATIVELY well.

The last time I posted anything here, I was on my way up north to search for land to further my milling aspirations.  In response, I received several kind invites from millers in the southeast who were willing to demonstrate their saws for me -- thanks to all who offered their help. ;)

Although I am obviously in a holding pattern in this regard at the moment, God willin' and the creeks don't rise [any further], I'll be back into the swing of things soon.  Once I am, I'll get back on the boards in a big way to glean even more great information from the many kind members of the forum.

Despite the picture being painted by those on television, there are many many productive people going through great hardships here.  Please send kind thoughts their way.

Have a great day,
B in NOLA     

[Fla._Deadheader]

Good to hear from ya. Keep us informed as best ya can.

[Tom]

Believe the people who report the news.  HA!    :D :D

Yeah, we know there are a lot of folks there who are trying to put things back together again.  We wish you the best and all the luck in the world.

Does it look like any market for sawing hurricane downed wood?   That migh justify a mill for you.  What happed here is that the Gov. created Temp. dump sites and they were loaded with trash and logs.  They brought in grinders and ground it all up.  If you reached the right people, you might find a market sawing timbers and blocking from the sawable logs brought to one of those places.  EVen if they didn't build with it, there would be a use for blocking and dunnage in the reconstruction.   Just a thoght.

[ex-Engineer Wannabe]

Tom, you're dead on about the fantastically inept media coverage in our area.

During the period that our parish was under Marshall Law, I was thanking God for the internet.  In short, if it wasn't for the internet forums set up on the Jefferson Parish website, we would've never known what was actually happening in our area! 

I can tell you, as someone whose seen it with his own eyes, that there are thousands of motivated people here who are helping each other in any way they can.  Sometimes it takes the worst to bring out the best in people.  It's just plain sad that those stories don't make there way onto television.  Nope...if it's not about some poor wretch with his/her hand out, Madison Ave isn't interested in reporting it.  Not that it will really affect my family, but I just hope intelligent people across the nation have the good sense to realize that there's much more than meets the eye [literally] down here.

Thanks for the great advice, but things are just too uncertain for us to invest in anything high priced right now.  Instead, I've been helping out in other ways.  For example, last week, I helped one of my wife's colleagues partially demolish his Old Metairie home to abate the continuing mold growth that threatened the structure.  It was a humbling experience that drove me to the keyboard afterword.  If you're interested in reading a factual story about what's really going on in NOLA, please let me know and I'll figure out a way to send it to you.

Thanks for the kind words,
B in NOLA    

[Fla._Deadheader]

I believe we ALL would like to hear your stories, B.

[Tom]

Deadheader's right.  We would like to hear/read your story.  This thread is a good starting place. 

[ex-Engineer Wannabe]

Thanks again, Tom and Deadhead. 

As it's not really related to forestry, is it appropriate to post an account such as mine on the forum?  It never really occured to me to do it, but, if it's something the board might appreciate, I can give it a try.

Considering that the experience was quite humbling for me, it wasn't something I could express concisely.  Consequently, the document ended up being nearly four pages in length.  Is there a way to submit that much text to the board?

Bill in NOLA

[Fla._Deadheader]

Jeff should respond to this, with his opinion.  ;D

[Jeff]

Certainly. What format is it in? If its like a word document or something you can attach it by clicking the Additional options link just below your posting text box. THat will open up a browsing facility to attach your document. You can attach anything in these formats:
txt, doc, pdf, xls, wks

And up to 200 KB.  If that doesn work for you you certainly could just copy and paste in a post, or two or thress if you need.  Text really takes up little of our resources and we welcome it.

[DanG]

Hey, Bill!  I've been thinkin' about you.  Last I heard from you was when you was headed up to N. Ga.  I started thinking you had moved in with Ron Rogers and had become "B in NOGA". :D :D :D

I'm sure glad to hear that you and your's came out with your skin intact, and I'll be looking forward to reading your Blog.

Ya know, if ya can't see your way to invest in a mill right now, you might still get in on the action.  Being right there, and knowing folks, you might be able to coordinate for a bunch of FF sawyers that would like to come down and pitch in. 

[Bibbyman]

Good to see you back on the Forum! 

Yea,  from the news we get, you'd think New Orleans was the only place hit by the hurricane – and the only people that were effected.   When they've not got 10 seconds of old footage to replay,  they're interviewing someone that wasn't there and don't know but giving their opinion anyway.

Apparently there is a mammoth amount of downed timber and urban trees down in the Gulf States.   Last week the log broker was on our lot and got a cell phone call.  When he got off, he said it was from down in Louisiana.  They wanted him to come down and give insurance estimates of tree damage.  Then later one of the loggers came in and was saying he had been contacted to bring his crew, trucks and equipment down to work the damaged timber.

I know last weekend at the forestry show in St. Charles,  the guys at Wood-Mizer was doing a lot of talking about how they were going to respond to all the demand and how much demand there was for milling.  Also, repairing or replacing Wood-Mizer mills that had been in the hurricane.  This was before Rita hit.

Did you guys see the post I started on the General Board that highlighted some of Wood-Mizer's efforts?

Wood-Mizer's efforts to bring help to the Gulf States

Good luck to you and your's!

[OneWithWood]

B, glad to hear from you.  I would really like to read your missives  :P

If you can hook up with someone milling in your area you could learn a lot by offbearing for them.  I bet some would even let you run the mill  8)