Eunice Louisiana, Boomtown

Population: 12,000
Large Fireworks Tents: 6
New Year's Eve: Sleepless

Home For The Holidays

As our family traveled to New Orleans to meet up with family for Christmas Day, I looked up in the sky and saw tons of white lines streaking through the atmosphere. Often you can see one or two white streaks from airplanes in the sky, but at 10 AM on Christmas morning the sky was FULL of airplanes with people busy going, going, going.

It sort of caught my breath as I thought of all the people on all those planes with somewhere to go. Someone to meet. Someone to hug. Someone to give gifts to. Someone to sit down at the table with and eat a special meal with. Someone to visit.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and were in just the spot you wanted to be for Christmas Day!

The Church Family

Last night I had the privilege to sit in the congregation while our church choir performed the annual Christmas music program. I enjoyed the music. I enjoyed the Christmas sounds. I enjoyed seeing the children particpate and be adorable. I enjoyed seeing my son sing in the choir (and be so grown up).

BUT, mostly I just looked at a group of people that are dear to my heart. God continues to knit our lives together in this place, and that is so good. I prayed for each person on the stage last night. I thanked God for the blessing of knowing them all....my church family....a gift from God.

(I apologize for the quality of the pictures. It's hard to take a decent shot with dim lighting and spot lights in the middle of the performance.)

Sneaux Again!

Last year on December 1st I posted a blog about our Lousiana snow. Who could have guessed that I'd be able to post pictures of this year's Louisiana snow!?!

Sure enough, on Friday evening about 6 PM it started to snow here. The snowing lasted until about 10 PM, and the night stayed cold enough that there was snow covering the ground and roofs when we got up Saturday morning. On our way to church this morning there were still patches of snow to be seen on roofs and in shady, cool corners of yards!

This might be my favorite picture from the snow. It's our neighbor's house early in the morning as the sun was coming up. It is a rare sight to see the smoke coming from the chimney while the roof, trees, and yard are covered with a white blanket of snow.

Thanksgiving Update

The holiday season has begun! The blog posts will be slow coming as we head through the month of December and into the New Year, but check back when you can. You never know when a post will be up!

Before we get too far into December, I wanted to post our Thanksgiving pictures. You may be thinking you'll see a big turkey, a gravy boat, and the canned shaped cranberry sauce...well, not this year! On Thanksgiving Thursday we (my parents joined us) loaded up in the van and headed out on an adventure to visit places in Louisiana we haven't seen before. We ended up in Pecan Island, where we found a spot on the side of the road to pull over and eat our turkey sandwiches.




I hope your Thanksgiving was an enjoyable as ours!

Goodbye Global Wildlife

It's been a good week looking back at our visit to Global Wildlife. Who knew I would be able to make a WEEK's worth of blog posts out of a 1 1/2 hour trip on an animal feeding wagon!? Those of you that know me well, know I have a tendency to perseverate on something for a while, so you aren't surprised. (You also know that perseverate is one of my favorite and frequently-used words.)

Here are a pictures I have left from the visit.

Hope you have enjoyed the week here at Out My Back Door.

One of my favorite pictures from the day~

One Hump...Or Two?

Long Necks, Part II

Isn't this crazy!? All the animals just waiting for us to show up. In January our family made the trip to Animal Kingdom at Disney World. The safari ride there was alright, but my children declared that the trip to Global Wildlife was BETTER than Disney's safari. You KNOW it has to be good for them say that!

Long Necks, Part I

I have so many great pictures (in my opinion...plus they are my favorite animal to see) of the giraffes at Global Wildlife, I've decided to separate them into 2 blog posts...one today, one tomorrow. As I said while the giraffe was standing RIGHT in front of me eating out of my cup, "It seems all is right with the world when a giant giraffe is eating out of your hand." They are magnificently odd creatures with such stature.

Check out the giraffes gathering for some food~

(I called the bison a 'buffalo' in the video. Sorry Mr. Bison.)

Long Necks, Part II coming tomorrow!

Don't Eat With Your Mouth Open...

or with your tongue hanging out!

Having been to Global Wildlife once before, we knew what to expect when we got to the 'big cows'. (That is what we call them. We understand it isn't their proper name or scientific classification.) Even when you know what to expect, it's still hilarious to see the big cows come up to your cart, stretch their mouths out wide, and then stick those big tongues out. Evidently we are charmed enough by these strange antics that we fill our cups with feed and POUR it into their mouths.

Watch the pattern here...

Open mouth, stick out tongue.

Someone dumps food in the mouth.

Open mouth, stick out tongue.

Someone dumps food in the mouth.

If you don't have a very large tongue and 4 hooves, I don't think you should try this method of getting fed.

White With Black Stripes?

Or black with white stripes? You tell me!

We were told not to feed the zebras at Global Wildlife. Evidently they bite....hard. So we couldn't pet them or feed them by hand or by cup, but we threw the food down to the ground for them to eat 2 feet away from us. They are unreal creatures. So odd looking and fascinating.

Tomorrow....the 'big cows' are coming with their nasty, long tongues! Stay tuned.

A Louisiana Must-Do

http://globalwildlife.com/

Our family enjoyed a visit to the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom, Louisiana this past Saturday. The rest of this week I will post daily pictures from our animal trek. If you are in the area....it's a must-do!

Passengers ride on these long, open-windowed carts.

The animals KNOW that the passengers bring the food. You can buy a bucket full of food (enough for the 6 of us) to feed all the critters during your ride. Most of them eat out of the cups provided.

We just lean over and find just the animal to feed.

The picture below is from out the back of our carriage. We were in the last one, so the animals all followed as we went. I wonder if this is what Noah must've felt like as the animals began coming 2 by 2 to the ark...

Louisiana Lemons

You know Texans say, "Everything is bigger in Texas"?

Well, they must've never seen a Louisiana lemon.

My husband was given one of these ginormous lemons and told that it can make a gallon of lemonade by itself!

I believe it.

Here is the lemon next to a store-bought, lime-shaped container.

Here is the lemon next to an average tomato and my 11 year old daughter's fist.

Wow.

The Old State Capitol

On our day of adventure in Baton Rouge, we also saw the Old State Capitol. The building just doesn't look like it belongs in Louisiana...Europe maybe, but not Louisiana. Now for a bit of history...

In 1847, Baton Rouge lured Louisiana's capital away from the city of New Orleans with the donation of a plot of land high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi. Architect James Harrison Dakin (1806-1852), a New York native with a thriving practice in New Orleans, was retained to design the new capitol building.

Dakin described the building as "Castellated Gothic" because of the cast-iron decoration of its crenellated battlements and turrets. The building's construction started in 1847 and ended in 1852, the same year as Dakin's death. The statehouse featured heavy masonry walls covered with lime mortar plaster scored to resemble stone blocks.

The statehouse served as the seat of Louisiana government until 1862 when Union troops captured Baton Rouge. Fleeing Union troops, Louisiana legislators abandoned the building in which they had voted to secede from the Union in 1861. The building was used as a Union prison and garrison until December 28, 1862 when the interior of the building was destroyed due to an accidental fire started by Union soldiers.

The ruined interior was completely reconstructed in 1882 by architect and engineer William A. Freret who installed the signature grand staircase. Since older legislators remembered the darkness from the 1850 period, Freret added the magnificent stained glass "lantern," or dome, in an effort to emit more light. A single ornate central pier was included to support the dome, the whole resembling a grand umbrella of painted glass.

On March 1, 1882, Governor McEnery and other state officials arrived in Baton Rouge to officially take possession of the newly restored statehouse and the new life of the capitol began.

In 1932, construction of the new State Capitol was completed and the Legislature officially transferred the seat of Louisiana government to the new building. The abandoned statehouse became the headquarters of the Works Progress Administration in 1936.

In 1991, after decades of neglect, a group of dedicated, concerned citizens and politicians saved the Old State Capitol from demolition and began a massive reconstruction to restore the historic building.

Information from the Louisiana Secretary of State's Official Website.

Sorry the photos are from the backside of the building as we walked to the Mississippi River. It was too rainy to take the long walk around the front. That will have to be saved for another day, another blogpost.

The Mighty Mississippi

Thursday afternoon, as we were trying to outrun a pretty good storm, our family arrived in Baton Rouge a few hours earlier than we had planned. We took the opportunity to walk along the Mississippi River.

There's something about that river. I could sit and watch it for a while. Maybe that's because my parents and grandparents would take my sister and me to the Mississippi River (in New Orleans) when we were children. We would eat beignets at Cafe du Monde, and then walk over the levee and sit on the steps of the river. We sat on those steps on sunny days, rainy days, cold windy days, and hot summer days.

I remember seeing a variety of countries listed on the sides of the barges. These enormous boats come around a turn in the river carrying anything and everything, and so often the mass of the boat can't even be seen as it lies flat, just barely sticking out of the water.

I have heard stories that as a teenager/young man, my grandfather would swim across the Mississippi River. Were those stories true? Maybe someone in my family can verify that...

The River. I think it's in my blood.

The Weekend Barbeque

We have been fortunate that the local Jr. High had a bbq dinner last weekend, and the Methodist church had a bbq dinner this weekend. We buy the tickets, then wait for the pick-up day and hour to arrive. It seems the cajun barbeque dinner comes with all the same basic stuff, no matter where you get it, no matter who cooks it.

Last weekend in each styrofoam box there was 1/4 chicken, rice dressing, bbq beans, and a slice of white bread. (Sorry, I forgot to get a picture!)

This weekend in each styrofoam box there was a delicious pork steak, rice dressing, bbq beans, and a slice of white bread.

See the theme here? These are cajun staples. Don't move here unless you like meat and rice. Or rice and meat. Fortunately, we like it ALL.

(I was thinking about a special 'facebook friend' in England yesterday as we ate. Sure wish I could have shared it with you so you weren't so homesick!)

When It Rains In Louisiana....

you need to do some roof repair and patching.

Prairie Pictures