Hammer, hammer, pound, pound.

Those are the sounds in the subdivision here an any given day-- Ham-mer, ham-mer, pound, pound. I would guess that one out of every three homes had roof damage after Hurricane Ike blasted through here. As a result, on every day of every week, you can hear the roofers removing and/or repairing the old roofing materials.

Their hammers will slowly tap twice against the roofing nail to set it into place (ham-mer, ham-mer), and then you'll hear the smashing of the hammer against the nail to drive it into the shingles (POUND, POUND). As I walk around the Greenbelt, those sounds echo around the walking trail and reverberate up from the bayou. Hammer, hammer, pound, pound. It's become sort of a marching song as I walk and I swear I can hear it in my sleep.

Two houses on our own street had roofing material replaced within the last couple of weeks... it was loud enough for us to hear, so I can only guess how loud it was inside our neighbor's houses while the work was being done. Our corner-neighbor S took her dog out for a drive while the worst of the noise was going on-- it was either that or give the dog a tranquilizer.

Two houses in the subdivision are still in the process of having interior repairs done in their homes--- in both cases, they had massive water damage when the ceilings fell in. Both homes have travel-trailers in their driveways, and that's where the people have been living while the workers are busy inside their houses.

We keep thanking our lucky stars that we had such minor roof damage which my husband fixed easily the day after we returned when the storm was over. I couldn't imagine living in a small trailer with the dog and three cats.

Speaking of pets, there was a story on the news tonight about low blood pressure and pets--- if you have pets, you most likely will not have high blood pressure, and it's been proven that people with pets will live longer than those without.

I will have to remember that when Mickey Kitty wakes me up at 3:30 in the morning by jumping on top of my husband's dresser and using his paw to drop my husband's wallet down to the floor..... which prompts ShadowBaby to jump on top of my dresser and stretch up against the painting hanging over the dresser, which makes the painting shift to the left.... which wakes up AngelBoy who then knocks on the laundry room door because he has heard the other two and thinks that it's time to start the day.

The weather has been warm during the day, cool at night.... too cool for the cats to be sleeping on the screen-porch. I am so ready for summer.... and for an uninterrupted night's sleep.