I Can See Clearly Now...The Tree Is Gone.

This is what happens when you give a 9 year old a camera~ 176 pictures later you have the complete story and details of how to cut down a half-fallen pecan tree.

I'll save all the details and give you a speed version of how I got a new view out my back door.

First, there is a lot of contemplation about how to begin.

Then, the work begins.

This is what we could see of the fence after the big branches were cut away.

This is what was left of the tree after the downed branches were trimmed. It ain't pretty.

Behind the wheelbarrow is the short stump where a mighty tree once stood.

The fence doesn't look TOO bad either.

Surprisingly, this was the ONLY self-picture taken the whole time she had the camera!

Literally

A Change of Scenery

The rain came. The wind came. The rain came some more. Then the "crack" noise came.

My house is there in the background. I am taking the picture in our neighbor's yard.

So the view out my back door has changed a bit.

We are just thankful it didn't hit the house!

C is for Crawfish

We use the letter "c" around here sparingly. We save it for important words like "c"rawfish!

The Rodeo

Yes. The Rodeo.

I could never have guessed that my children would grow up having friends with horses. I could never have guessed that my children would have access to horses to actually get ON and ride. I'm not talking the plastic .25 ones in front of the grocery store here. Real. Live. Big. Horses.

Strange.

Now strange doesn't have to be a bad thing. Just a foreign idea or thought. Something new and unfamiliar. This is my relationship to the horses and subsequent rodeos that follow from owning horses......strange and fantastic at the same time!

This is a friend (she's 8?). We saw her ride in the rodeo (and she went on to win a buckle too)!

This was a favorite part of the rodeo~ the smoothing out of the dirt for the next event. I'm serious. We were fascinated with the tractor.

However, this was likely the cutest thing we saw that afternoon at the rodeo~

Ok, I Lied

I did take my camera, and I did take pictures on our little daytrip to Washington where nothing was open.

We came across the Magnolia Ridge Plantation, which was built by Captain Louis Prescott and used by Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War. There is a 5 mile paved path to walk on the grounds of the 60 acre piece of land. It is still a private residence, so you can walk around but not go inside any of the houses.

We walked the path. Not all 5 miles.

Then we saw it. A bunny? A possum? No. A real, live, breathing, rooting armadillo!

I was telling someone that evening about seeing a REAL, ALIVE armadillo and that just seemed like no big deal. Well, for me, the only armadillo I've ever seen is dead on the side of a road. I just figured that's how they come in Florida~ roadkill.

This little guy (or girl?) let us get about 2 feet away from him. It was worth the drive!!

Check out the shiny worm right by his mouth here.

I'd always heard that armadillos have leprosy on their nose. Anyone else ever hear that growing up?? I don't BELIEVE it now, but I sure did when I was a little kid.

Lesson Learned

With my parents visiting for a few days, we piled in the van and took a day trip out and about to see the sights of the Cajun prairie. Our destination was the antique village of Washington, so we drove through several small towns to get there. We arrived with high hopes of antique stores and shopping.

The lesson learned~ Small towns don't open too many stores, shops, or businesses on Mondays. This is especially true for antique shops.

There are no pictures to record today's events, or rather today's non-events.

Hungry?

Yes, you read it correctly~ hot boudin, cracklins, sausage, tasso, and then the whole category of "specialty meats". I guess that includes the rabbit, pounce, and stuffed tongue (cow, that is).

That sure is "special".

Out My Back Door, Inside a Small Town

I've been lax in the blogging because I'm on VACATION! The kiddos and I have traveled across part of Louisiana to visit with the grandparents for a few days.

Upon our arrival, we found out a soldier who had been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq was being flown in to the local, little airport in this small town, back to his home town and his family. The mayor had asked folks to line the streets and wave their flags and stand in honor of this fallen soldier. The small town turned out in mass number.

It was moving. It was silent. It was a reminder of things still going on on the other side of the world, and how those things still affect folks in small towns and large towns across America.

Embarrassment and Shame, but Keeping It Real

Rice is a big deal around here. Many of the crawfish ponds are turned into rice fields based on the agricultural seasons, which I don't pretend to completely understand or follow...but I'm trying to learn!

Folks grow rice. Folks harvest rice. Folks eat rice.

It's a way of life.

Oh yeah, and folks buy rice. LOTS of it.

That's the rice piled up in a regular store....not a bulk shopping place, not a Sam's or a Costco. These must be 20 or 25 lb. bags.
(This is completely new to me to see that much rice for sale.)

This is the size bag of rice you buy when you are going to make 800 servings of jambalya. There are FIVE of these 50 lb. bags. I walked by these bags and my mouth fell open in awe. The people around me didn't even take a second glance at a bag of rice that large.

Now for the "keeping it real" part.....I am a bit ashamed to admit this. Just keep in mind, I haven't lived here a year yet.....
THIS is the kind of rice I buy.

Yes....it's instant. Yes....it's not even a pound box. Yes....it only takes 5 minutes to cook.
The final confession~ I still make potatoes....a lot!

Hall of Famers

My husband always wanted to visit a Hall of Fame place~ Canton, Ohio (for the football), Cleveland, Ohio (Rock and Roll), but really he's always wanted to visit Cooperstown, New York (baseball).

We haven't made it to those places, but here we are, now living in a Hall of Fame place!

Since moving, the award for the best zydeco or cajun music album has been added as a grammy category. The guy that won this year is a zydeco musician from a town 10 miles east of here.