Laughing After a Disaster

There are blogs aplenty if you want to read about how horrible the hurricane damage and evacuation to Baton Rouge is. And other than mentioning that I still have no electricity, I won't complain today. Or at least, I won't complain here.

Instead, I want to compile a list of the amusing things that happened this week. If you have your own story to share, please email me, and I'll pass it on.

But first, let me mention that there is a small arena at LSU that gets used for livestock shows, garden shows, and the occasional rodeo. Now, it is set up as a shelter for all of the animals that people took on their evacuation but aren't allowed to keep wherever they are staying.

We went by there last night to take a stack of old newspapers. It was nice. The animals are taken care of by Veterinary students, and they are let out to play on the arena floor. If you're in Baton Rouge and have the time, drop by with your leftover dog food, newspapers, bowls, kennels, or just by the students lunch.

On to our stories.

This one was from a news broadcast. A mass of people were waiting to be evacuated from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, and the reporter found a woman who had been picked up without as much as a pair of shoes. A man that she didn't know had given her his shoes, and the reporter thought he would make a good interview.

Reporter: Sir, why would you give your own shoes to a total stranger?

Man: It wasn't no big deal. They were soaking wet, and I had a dry pair in my backpack.

Who says chivalry is dead?

A friend of mine went back to work the day after the hurricane. She was dressed in jeans, and had hair up and little makeup. The next day, she went in with normal work clothes and makeup.

As soon as she walked in the door on that second day, she got told, "Someone got their power back on!"

Some people that I know in North Louisiana have three evacuees staying at their house. All three happen to be nuns.

The man of the house walked into the bathroom to find their nun bras hanging on the accessories all over the bathroom. This shook him up, and he mentioned it to his wife.

"There are nun bras all over the bathroom."

"Well, your daughters used to leave their bras all around, and that didn't bother you."

"Yeah, but these are nun bras."

I asked about what makes a bra a "nun bra." Apparently, they don't have any laces or frilly parts.

I saved the best story for last, and I promise that this isn't made up.

I know a couple who are both in their 70s. For the hurricane, they went to stay at their son's house. Their son is in the same city where they live, so it's safe to say that they had rarely -- if ever -- spent the night there before.

In the middle of the night, the husband woke up. He heard something beep. Just a single, quick "beep." A minute or two later, there was another beep.

He woke up his wife.

"Do you hear something beeping?"

She listened. Nothing.

"No."

He thought about it for a second, and then said, "It must be in my head! Put your ear up to my head and see if you hear it."

Let me just say that the wife has enough sense to know that her husband's brains didn't suddenly start making noises. But, she had just been woken up and was groggy. And besides, she probably knew that she would never get to go back to sleep until she listened to his skull. So, she put her ear up to his head.

Coincidentally, the alarm system (or smoke detector or whatever it was) chirped again.

"Did you hear it?"

"Yes, I heard it that time."

While the wife slept the rest of the night, the husband layed awake and tried to determine why his melon could be beeping.

He got up the next morning and tried to convince the rest of his family that the VA hospital had implanted some sort of gadget in his head the last time he was in for a checkup.

The family was unable to listen to his story with faces straight.