LORDY, LORDY, the SAINTS are FORTY!
On the first day of October while showering in the morning, this thought came to me, "There are
no coincidences — only blessings from God." So it was no coincidence that we had a quiet
Sunday. At noon I watched the Saints play football at the Panthers on TV. The Saints lost the
game because they missed a field goal in the second half. Game ended 21-18 on a last minute TD
by the Saints. Before then, the Panthers had been celebrating victory because the game was 21-10
with less than 2 minutes left. The Saints caught them flatfooted and scored a long pass for a TD
followed by 2 point conversion, making it 21-18. Missed the onsides kick or they could have tied
the game and won it in overtime. Not bad for a new team to be this savvy with their play calling
and this skilled with their execution. In the last game of October, the Saints were to lose to the
Ravens at home, their only home loss this season, 35-22. And they were driving for another TD
when the game ended. This was a game of extraordinarily lucky plays and bounces of the ball for
the Ravens. Next time they won't be so lucky. This is a Saints team to be reckoned with and the
entire NFL and country will discover that over the course of the remainder of this season. With a
record of 5-2 and 9 games to go, watch for some more fun, New Orleans-style, before the season
is over in February. Note this fact: November 1 is ALL SAINTS DAY and is a state-holiday for
Louisiana. It also represents the birthday of the New Orleans Saints NFL Football Club back in
1966, forty years ago exactly, this November 1, 2006. Note: During the middle of the month the Saints beat two good teams, Tampa Bay and the Philadelphia Eagles.
BLESS YOU, EETIE!
Our emergency vacation, we called it, began on Monday morning when I returned from PJ's Coffeshop about 10 am with my double latte and
cranberry muffin, and called our timeshare company to confirm our reservations for the
Smoky Mountains lodge on October 14. This time slot was the one we had scheduled for 2005, but Katrina put the kibosh on that and we had to re-schedule. That date stuck in my mind for two years. Well, I was in for a big surprise. When I re-scheduled Post Katrina the only week
timeslot available was for September 30 through October 7. We were due two days earlier on Saturday! I
called the Lodge and explained we'd be there the next day. I called Del and found that she had
nine appointments she had to change before we could leave; I had only one. We made the
decision to leave and she began changing appts and doing her errands and I began packing and
securing the premises. Made arrangements with our next door neighbor, Ann, to feed the dogs,
Steiner and Ita, while we were gone. By 1 pm or so we had the car packed and we rolled towards
Gatlinburg. By 10 pm we had cleared Chattanooga and nestled ourselves into a Wingate Inn for a
well-deserved good night's sleep. Then our emergency vacation took on another aura:
our neighbor Ann called us on the cell phone to say that Ita (pronounced EEET-A)
had been run over by a woman in a car in front of our house. The woman left Ita with her rear
legs mangled, wailing on the street. A young man saw what happened and stopped his car to take
care of Ita in her dying moments. Ann came out when she saw what happened, called the pound,
and called us. By the time she got us, the animal shelter had sent a vehicle to pick Ita up and she
was dead. That night Steiner moaned aloud for Ita, his companion for her entire lifetime span of
about three years. I called our friend Brian and he came over to check on Steiner and decided to
take him to his house till we returned. We are so thankful for the young man who attended Ita in
her last moment, for Ann who called us, and for Brian who took Steiner into his home and cared
for him till we returned. Steiner is resilient and is doing fine. Got a clean bill of health from his
vet, John Wayne in October. We will miss you, Eetie! You were a fine little doggie who brought
so much joy and happiness into Steiner's and our lives while you lived. We love you.
THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS
Our Wingate suite was so large it seemed to take forever to walk from the bath to the bed in the dark. The breakfast buffet the next morning was also great. They had an automatic
waffle maker with prepared batter. Just pour it in and take it out when it beeps. Was delicious
and the heart-shaped quadrant were pretty as well.
From Chattanooga we headed north a couple of hours through Townsend into Cade's Cove. On
the long drive through the Cove, we met a young man from Iceland, Solvee, who stopped to ask
us how to get to Cherokee, N. Carolina. He was so lost that I gave him the $1 map I had just
bought from the Smoky's Ranger which would show him how to get out of the Cove and onto
the right road. He demurred my offer, but I said, "Take it as an expression of our American
hospitality." We drove into the central area of the Cove and I wanted us to hike up the Abram
Falls' trail, but Del needed a public convenience more private than a tree, so we passed up the
Abram Falls' exit. Will have to wait for next time we go that way. As we visited Cades Cove
settlement I noticed a sign with the big letters, "BOB WAS HERE", and since I was here at the
time, I had Del take a couple of photos of me with the sign. As she was setting up to take the
photos, I read the sign only to find that BOB was a criminal! He had defaced the National Park
by writing "Bob was here" on a building or rock and he had been fined $200 for doing so. Well,
it was too late for me to stop the photo, but most people only look at photos anyway and will
likely only read the large print. Right?
On the way out of the Cove, the traffic came to a standstill for a half hour or so. We eventually
learned that three large black bears were in the top of a large tree in the middle of the meadow at
left, about 100 feet from the road. I got several photos of the bear at the top from the car.
Couldn't stop too easily and there were few places left to park. Later I got a great shot of a deer
close the edge of the forest from my window. That one is a gem. Look for photos of the bear at
the top of the tree and the deer.
We drove back to Townsend and into Pigeon Forge where we looked for the entrance and
crossover to the Westgate Condos. It was called Little Smoky Rd. My map was helpful, but it
didn't name the crossover. We checked in at 301-13 about dusk. Del complained bitterly about
the room's location because of the heavy construction out our back door. It did no good. We
were late and got the last open unit. We drove to Gatlinburg for supper and a view of the town.
Looks newer now than it did back in the 1960s when I went there so often. Ate at a mediocre
Seafood Restaurant, which cured us of eating in town thereafter. Not bad, just not good. We
found a pancake place just inside Gatlinburg the next morning, and ate at the Cracker Barrel
Restaurant in Pigeon Forge the rest of eating out times. We hiked the next two days and brought
along sandwiches with us to eat along the trails.
FALL'S COLORS AND LAUREL FALLS
On Wednesday, we decided to do the Smokies high elevations where the fall colors were in near
full bloom. Drove to Clingman's Dome and took lots of photos of the area which is getting
restored from the devastation which decimated the large fir trees along the parking area. There
were lots of trees with large bright bunches of red berries on them. The clumps of red resembled
large Christmas tree ornaments and gave a festive air to the entrance to the path to the tower.
We stopped on the way down from Clingman's Dome to photo the color at Newfound Gap.
Then we drove to the trail head for our hike to Laurel Falls. Along the way we jumped a wild
turkey on the side of the road. It looked like a tall heron to me at first, but when I realized it was
a turkey, we did a U-turn to look for it again. We found that it had crossed the road with a turkey
friend and was eating off the bushes just past the shoulder. I was able to get a couple of photos of
them without spooking them away first. In over forty years of visiting the Smoky Mtns, this was
the first time that I'd ever seen a wild turkey.
We enjoyed our trip to Laurel Falls. The colors were vibrant and there were lots of places to sit
and relax as well as take photos. On the way down from the Falls, Del was taken by the prospect
of the forest glade down the side of the trail and called my attention to it. I turned my glance to
the right and turn my ankle at the same time. It was a sprain, but I was able to walk unassisted. It
hurt only a bit and I made it back to the car with no further problems. The ankle hurt enough to
make the twice as long hike to Alum Cave Bluffs the next day seem unlikely.
ALUM CAVE BLUFFS
When I woke up, the heavy construction directly below the condo was going on again and
that nurtured our resolve to be away from the condo during the daylight hours while they worked
on completing the Splash Arena for indoor swimming, sliding, and other forms of water-based
gaiety by residents of the large array of faux log-cabin condo units. We knew those were faux
logs because we could see the half logs being applied to the concrete sides of the building. Plus, I
realized that my two ankles felt equally good, so I told Del, "Let's hike to Alum Cave Bluffs." I
had never been on that trail on any of my many other hiking trips to the Smoky Mtns and this
seemed the right time to do it. It's about 2.5 miles up a rise of 1,340 feet or about 400 meters.
Since 400 seemed so much lower than 1,340, we decided to hike it in meters instead of feet. Our
feet were just as sore when we were done nonetheless.
We packed some water and peanut butter sandwiches and drove up to the parking area for
the head of the Alum Cave Bluffs trail. The trail followed a wonderful stream for the first mile or
so and then diverged from the stream to head up the ridge trail to the bluffs area. We had just
begun hiking up the trail when we met a hiker at the beginning of the trail who introduced
himself as George "Buzz" Kiefer, a retired judge from New Orleans. He had a large Nikon digital
camera and tripod and he was taking a photo of the creek flowing past the trail. It looked like
such a good shot that I took one of the same scene. (See photo of Buzz at right and photo that he
had lined up at left.)
About halfway up, we climbed stairs cut into the rock and held onto a cable in the walls
of a natural Archway. It was dark and wet, but one needed to transverse the Archway to get to the
Cave up above. We encountered mushrooms and snails on the forest floor alongside the trail. We
hiked along a high ridge with an excellent view of the surrounding mountain ridges on all sides
of us. The fall color was on display everywhere. Since most of the hike took place above 3,000
feet we were in the midst of color that would not be prominent at the lower elevations for a week
or so after we had left the Smokies.
Along the trail we met many hikers with full backpacks who were headed up to the lodge
on the peak of Mt. LeConte. It was a trip I had made once when I was 22 and one that I would
like to do again someday. There is a fairly level hike, albeit 8 miles long that goes from
Newfound Gap to Mt. LeConte. I'll check over the elevation difference and we might do a one-way hike to the Lodge and then come down the Rainbow Falls trail to Cherokee Orchard outside
Gatlingburg. That trail goes mostly all down and down makes for a much easier hike than up. As
we found out when we later retraced our steps down from Alum Cave Bluffs.
At the top we had a couple of treacherous places to traverse, but these had cables
anchored in the side of the mountain so there was no danger so long as we didn't clown around
and we used common sense. The area for sitting at the base of Alum Cave Bluffs was all taken
and Del was exhausted, we sat down at the base of the cave a bit lower where we had an
excellent view to take photos. Not as excellent as some photos I've seen on postcards, but I now
know that those distant views had to be taken from an airplane or helicopter, because the trail
gave no such wide-angle prospects of the cave.
The hike down was delightful and my ankle held up very well for the entire hike. We
arrived back at the condo exhausted. Took a jacuzzi in the tub and then headed to Cracker Barrel
Restaurant in Pigeon Forge for some home cooking.
HOME, CODOFIL BREAKFAST, and LSU-UF GAME
Woke up rested in our own bed and got ready for Les Aimes du CODOFIL Rive Ouest monthly
breakfast at LeBlanc's Restaurant on Lafayette Street a few miles from Timberlane. Another bon
temps for all present. Lots of French-speaking and Cajun songs to sing as we recalled our Cajun-french speaking heritage together with some scrambled eggs, grits, pain perdu, sausage, fried
boudin balls, hogshead cheese, cracklins and hot café au lait steaming in mugs. Laiche pas la
potat, Cher!
Away from Tiger Stadium, LSU fumbled away opportunity after opportunity to beat a team
which they outmatched at every position except quarterback. They are looking more and more
like the Brooks-led Saints while the Saints are looking more like the Saban-toothed Tigers. QB
Russell continues to get flustered when playing against a good team and the entire LSU squad
falls apart. Losses to Auburn and Florida in two imminently winnable games are the only ones of
this season. Hope Matt Flynn gets the call next year or at least that Ryan Perriloux won't be
learning all of Russell's moves. The next day the New Orleans Saints came from behind to beat a
good Tampa Bay team.
FRIDGE LEAK AND PRUNING WORK
I called Wayne at AAA Appliances and asked him about the water leaking from fridge. He said
check if ice has formed at bottom of freezer. It had. That's due to drain hole being clogged by ice.
Most frequent repair he's had to make since Katrina, he added. I removed the three screws which
holds the dam in place and cleared away the ice. Then unplugged hole and added some bleach to
clean it up and keep it that way. Seems to have worked.
Then I got the pruner and chopped the downed bamboo in half at the curbside for pickup
by the trash men. Got the ladder and pole chainsaw to cut a large oak limb down the rest of the
way. I had cut it days earlier halfway through, and again I cut till I was tired and got down. A
minute or so later the limb gently set itself down, leaving our trellised arch untouched and the
avocado tree still in good shape. I began to prune everything I could from the fallen limb and
waited for Del to come home to begin pulling the pieces of pruned limbs out to the street . While
she was doing that I continued to cut away the larger limbs with the chainsaw. I was tossing them
behind me while she was gone, so when she got in back of me, I didn't know she was there. I
continued throwing the limbs behind and one of them hit her in the head well over her left
eyebrow near her hairline. She was in intense pain and quickly put an ice pack on it. The pain
went down and she slept peacefully. It only hurts when she laughs she said on Tuesday morning
as I typed this. I cleared away all but the large trunk and will crank up the Farm Boss to take that
away later today. Darn pull-cord on the Stihl broke and I had to take it to Theriot's to be repaired.
After supper a few days later, it was a tad cool and I took the chance to finish the oak tree
trimming. I wanted to remove the last long limbs which were blocking the sun from the purple
bougainvillea vine. I sat on the edge of the roof and used the pole saw. Used the cut-as-far-as-I-can then waited for the tree limb to fall. Same process worked on two other large limbs. I then
pruned the small limbs and then removed the big trunk. Later I sawed the big trunks and hauled
them out the street before it got too dark. Del helped me by hauling out the small pieces. Had
outside lights on at the end, but we were completely done with the oak tree trimming for another
year. Katrina did the major trimming for free for us last year.
One additional work we had done was getting the chimney swept and the flashing on the
chimney where it abuts the bricks re-caulked. Once that was once, I was able later to replace
some boards under the overhang which had gotten a tad warped from the minor leak.
NEI KUNG
Del has begun doing Nei-Kung exercises with me. These are internal Tai-Chi exercises. Twelve
yin and twelve yang ones which are designed to promote longevity and strengthen the ligaments
in one's joints. My recent experience with a turned ankle which healed over night during our
Smoky Mtn trip confirmed for us the efficacy of the Nei-Kung exercises which I have been doing
more or less regularly for almost thirty years. I've been doing by rote, but with Del joining me, I
thought it was a good time for me to type up the exercises and get some figures ready to show the
positions for each move. The descriptions are ready to post on the Internet, but the figure
diagrams need some more work. I did some Google searches of the Internet and found lots of
sites talking about Nei-Kung and offering classes in it, but none that contained simple
descriptions of how to do the exercises. Apparently the school is now closed which published in
the early 1970s the materials I was using that had been re-xeroxed many times over and was
almost indecipherable, so making the exercises available over the Internet would be useful.
Del has been recovering quite well from all of her shoulder and back problems thanks to the
work and advice of a competent chiropractor, a massage therapist, and a Feldenkrais worker. The
daily Nei-Kung exercises will help to prevent any future problems with her knees, shoulder
joints, elbows, ankles and wrists, plus help keep her immune system active and stimulating her
lymph nodes.
SOIRÉE EN VILLE
Friday the 13th found us heading to a CODOFIL Fund-Raising Event in downtown New Orleans.
The Soirée en Ville was in the ballroom on the fourth floor of an elegant building fronting on
Lafayette Square. I had on my new tuxedo black tie outfit and got at least one compliment on
"looking sharp". My Hahnville High School classmate, Rose Ann Loupe was there and we had a
nice talk. She helped fellow classmate and CODOFIL VP Anna Keller out a whole bunch to get
the event together. Neither of us could believe it'll be 50 years in two short years that we will
have graduated from HHS in 1958. A class of 75 Seniors who made up in quality what we lacked
in quantity.
Met Pauline Bujold from Nova Scotia, a cousin or second cousin of the actress, Geneviève
Bujold, Pauline is a great artist and brought down from Canada a large wall-sized painting called
"Passage" which depicts the treacherous passage of the Acadians who were deported from
Acadia by sea voyage. The tumultuous sea is tossing high and in the upper portions you can see
in the wave forms the spirits of our ancestors who didn't survive the voyage hovering above the
rising waves. She gave me a long description of the painting and its symbolism.
The other highlight of the event was a presentation to Jimmy C. Newman of the Prie de
Louisiane award, a glass plaque of Louisiana engraved with his name. He was on the radio
during the 1950s doing Cajun, Pop, Rock, and other songs. Most famous for doing the original
version of "Laiche pas la potat". He was also presented with a portrait of himself by artist Sandra
Keller.
Best of the food items was Paul Prudhomme's shitake mushroom and leeks soup. I'll use the
shitake mushrooms in my next leeks-mushroom soup to see what that does for the flavor.
CHRIS'S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY
After this event, we drove to Metairie where our oldest grandson became street legal — able to
drink liquor in barrooms or on the street legally. Chris was given a surprise 21st birthday party by
his girl friend Carrie at the Daquiries-n-Creams on Green Acres and Vets at 8 pm. We got there
about 9 pm after the surprise, but all three of our adult Bayhi grandkids were there. Chris and
Carrie, Tiffany and John, Anthony and Jennifer. Tiffany looked radiant and beautiful. Definitely
a late-blooming Bayhi lady. Must be because she is really happy right now in her life. 
Our oldest
daughter Maureen also looked radiant and definitely in control of her life. The music was too
loud to talk comfortably so we didn't stay long, but I got some great photos of the gang and
Chris's birthday cake with "Papa Smurf" and a blue pickup truck on it. I asked him why the name
and he said, "I'm always late and I drive a blue truck." Must be a Smurf joke I'm not familiar
with. Made me and Del both feel proud to be their grandparents. I told Del when we got into the
car to leave, "I wouldn't have raised those kids as Maureen did, but she sure did a bang-up job
doing it her way."
LSU GAME and JIM & GINA HATCHETT
I watched my first LSU football game broadcast live in streaming video on the left-side Gateway
monitor on my PC while doing work on the right side. I even uploaded photos to Shutterfly.com
while the game was playing with no degradation of performance. Cost to me was only $10 since I
already belonged to the Geaux Zone, and only $15 to others. It was only available in Louisiana
and Kentucky, the two teams' home states. LSU was leading 28 to 0 at half time. I hoped Matt
Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux would get some time with the first string in the second half. They did.
Russell came in and LSU took a 35-0 lead. Matt Flynn took over, followed by Perrilloux. Final
was 49-0 with UK playing against LSU subs most of the rest of the game and still unable to
score.
Jim and Gina, the newlyweds, came in at the beginning of the second half of the LSU-UK game.
Our son, Jim, was able to watch it along with me. He said that he'd have come earlier if he'd
known I had the game on. His great love in sports is Baseball and LSU football. Gina, his new
bride, was radiant. Never saw her so happy in all the six or more years we've known her. She is
using her maiden name LeBeouf at work since she didn't want to be a Human Relations Manager
named "Hatchett". Having a name like Hatchett causes some interesting reactions. We couldn't
get a guy at Disneyland to believe we had a son named Stoney Hatchett back around 1982 or so
when Stoney got separated from us in the amusement park. "Come on, lady, you're kidding," he
told Del, but eventually made the call and we found Stoney at the Lost and Found area enjoying
an ice cream cone.
The next morning was Sunday and I made Jim and Gina some Pain Perdu (pahn-per-doo) or
French Toast from French bread and the recipe and photos will be in an upcoming Digest. Look
for it. The main reason I made it was because one breakfast in a Gatlinburg restaurant I ordered
French Toast and I could still taste the eggs in it! Obviously made from someone who never
tasted good French Toast in their life! After the newlyweds left for home with goodies from our
excess furniture annex (the garage), we dressed for the Saints-Eagles gang. Our good friends Gail
and Jim Webb joined J. B. Borel and Del and me for the game. Stoney and family gave us their
three tickets. It was a great game and we yelled ourselves silly until the Saints won. At 5-1, we're
thinking playoff game in the works.
PROFESSOR BEVERLY MATHERNE FROM MICHIGAN and CODOFIL Meeting
On Monday after the busy Saints game day, Del and I got the house and guest room ready for
Beverly's visit and talk to the CODOFIL meeting. I processed my photos from the busy weekend
till she showed up about 4 pm. Riley Boudreaux, and his wife, Emily Matherne Boudreaux,
showed up with Beverly. Emily and Riley live in Lutcher, but eat out five nights a week, often in
New Orleans. Del set a beautiful table in the dining room and I fixed a mandala salad to
accompany the crawfish eggplant dressing. Then we drove to Rosie's where she and Lou were
waiting for us. She cut us each a piece of her delicious pound cake, which we enjoyed out on her
patio in the twilight as the egrets, herons, and ibises began arriving in droves and landing in
Rosie's tree across the canal. For some 20 years the birds have been coming, but it was only after
Katrina that the screen of trees she had planted to block the construction of a church was
completely blown down and she was able to enjoy the sight of the birds in the huge live oak tree.
Everyone was enthralled by the majestic sight of the large white birds coasting in, sometimes as
many as 24 or more at one time. It was a thrill which came over and over again in waves of new
arrivals.
We got to the CODOFIL Meeting a few minutes ahead of time. President JB had pulled the
podium out and the amplifier lost its speaker wires. I found the broken speaker wires and re-connected them to the 16 ohm speaker connections where they had been previously. Beverly
talked about her writing in Cajun French and she did several blues songs in Cajun from her Le
Blues Braillant (The Blues Crying) album. She did "Rosa Parks" and "Tobacco Man" (who
smoked Picayunes — cigarettes with perique tobacco in them — and drank Jax Beer). I told her
later in the morning that on the CD it sounded like "Jazz" instead of Jax. The "x" sound did not
come out very well and sounded like an "S". She did the "Selling my Snow-blowing Machine"
and then she searched for another one. I suggested the "Maman marchon comme le vent dance"
(Mama walk like the wind dance), and she did that one, too, in English and then in French.
She brought photos of her month long stay in France in a village near where Cadillac was born
and raised, the French explorer who discovered Detroit. "Funny," I told her later, "I thought it
was Detroit who created the Cadillac, not Cadillac who created Detroit." Pontiac, she said, was
an Indian who had some French in him and as a Chief took the French name Pontiac, also from
the same Armagnac region as Cadillac. Brignac, and any -ac names come from that region.
Rosie won the 50-50 drawing. I met Randy Theriot, Gary's younger brother. He was born in
1951, so he would have been a baby or a small boy when I last saw him before we moved away
from Westwego in 1955. I told my dad, Buster, about Randy and asked him how he knew Gary
and Randy's father. He said that they worked together at Autin Packing Co in Houma back
around 1940. The company was not paying them properly and they filed suit and won a judgment
from the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) and with Buster's money he moved to
Westwego, got a new job at Publiker Alcohol Co at its Nine Mile Point Plant and used the money
from the suit, all $300 of it to buy land and build a brand new house for his burgeoning family.
My sister Marie was his firstborn in the summer of 1939 but died after about 24 hours, and I was
the second born, in the summer of 1940. Within a year or so, I was living in a brand new house at
566 Avenue F. I took a photo of it recently when I passed by to check how it fared through
Katrina and Rita. Still looks great, only seems much smaller than I recall from my preteen years.
WORK AT TIMBERLANE
Seems each month brings more work at Timberlane. This month brought the first rain in a long
time and I heard a little pitty-pat on the suspended ceiling in the kitchen. I went into attic and
found the leak, fashioned a funnel and placed it over a gallon jug to catch the drip. The next day I
went up on the roof and found that the roofing company, Matise Roofing, had left a large gap
above the kitchen's oven vent as it went through the roof. The water pooled in a heavy rain and
flowed under the roofing tiles into the kitchen. A liberal seal of roofing cement took care of the
problem much faster than waiting for a roofer to come out.
While I was at the hardware store on Lapalco getting some roofing cement, cement caulk, and
Plumber's Goop for repairs, I asked the clerk if she knew anyone who could fix chain saw. I got
this look and this non-responsive response, "It'll take 6 weeks." I explained that she did not
answer my question, and she simply repeated her non-response. I'll never go to that store again.
I drove down to Paul's Outdoor Equipment repair shop and the clerk there gave me instructions
to Theriot's in Westwego on Westwood, a block to river from Expwy. I drove there and they are
a Snapper and Stihl dealer and repair center. Saw a nice new Snapper like mine for $1199,
manual with no hopper. I paid $999 for mine, but the hopper adds about three hundred dollars
more. The electric starter is $1400, and it is the smallest model riding mower made with electric
starter.
I left the Stihl with a deposit for $15 and asked them to fix the pull starter and sharpen the chain
saw. They said it would be about 3 weeks. In the afternoon Del came home and we drove to
Meyer the Hatter at 120 St. Charles, where Del bought me a crushable felt fedora for only $47.
Looks great on me. When I stopped by A&P to buy shrimp for the stuffed eggplant dish and fresh
flowers for Timberlane, my favorite flower lady Etta raved about how great I looked and wanted
to know where I was going. "Buying flowers for your girl-friend?" She asked. "Yes, Del," I
replied.
ANOTHER MILESTONE: FIRST GREAT-GRANDSON PLAYS FOOTBALL
Our grand-daughter Tiffany had called me and invited me to her six-year-old son Ben's football
game. She said, "Granpa, you gotta see them play. They look like midgets crawling over the
field. When one of them falls down with all the pads and helmet on, sometimes they can't get up
on their feet again!" So on one Tuesday, Del and I drove to Harahan and found the only
playground with lights on along Hickory Road and Ben was on the field. Our grandson Gabe saw
us while I was calling Tiffany's cell to say we were looking for them. When we got to where
everybody was, we met Teva, John's mom and also his sister. Then I saw Carl Huber and went
over and got a hug from him. Who's the big guy next to him, I thought. I asked him his name. It
was Nick, Ben's father! He had grown up into a man from the boy he was when I last saw him
only three years or so ago. When I told him that, he was nonplused, said people often tell him
that. He seemed comfortable in his skin and amazingly adult. Works in the contracting section of
Home Depot with the home builders. Good responsible job and serenely happy, maybe for the
first time in his life. Enjoyed watching his son Ben playing football. Told Carl to give Laura our
love. Del worked with Laura many years ago in a healthcare company.
John, Tiffany's husband, came to field from work and soon Maureen and Steve showed up. Was
a great family gathering. As big as any kid's football gathering we've been to. Got to take photos
of both Ben and Aven my two great-grandsons. Nobody was too interested in the game nor did
anybody know exactly what the score was, except maybe Nick, whose son was on the field. We
all just talked and enjoyed each other's company. My first great-grandson playing football,
another FIRST!
LSU OPEN DATE = WORK AROUND THE HOUSE
When LSU has an afternoon game, I often sit in the Screening Room and put all the TV games
on the six different screens while waiting for the LSU game to start. Sometimes, I will watch the
endings of the other games that are still going when the LSU game is over. But what to do when
LSU plays Open Date? After all that game is never televised. Lack of interest, I suppose.
So I did all the pending work on my backlog of "To Be Done Whenever the Weather is Great and
LSU has Open Date" List. First I cleaned out eaves vents, especially AC drip vent which wasn't
rusted through after all. Took another one off and hosed it out and decided to simply hose the rest
to open up the vents to air while they were still on the eaves. Only a small amount of water spray
gets into the attic and will dry up immediately. Also fixed and caulked the board under the South
Portico overhang where the chimney's flashing on the roof leaked before it was caulked a week
ago by the chimney man. Took off the corner molding and the 54 X 5 inch piece and cut two
matching pieces from the white plywood. Used double thickness to match the piece I took off.
Looks great and with the caulking, it doesn't need any paint job! While the white caulking can
was open, I used it to seal a couple of places in my bathroom around the tub.
After that I began mulching the left center garden after yard men finished the shoveling. Took a
break while one of them cleaned out the tiller so I could finish up the job. With the Plumber's
Goop, I re-attached the molding to the lower side of Del's car and re-sealed the passenger door
gasket which kept coming loose, up until now. Plumbers Goop to the rescue again. It was quite a
fixit day for the Maintenance Man today. Finished up the day by cutting the East and West
Portico lawns after the yardman had done a great job on the edging.
END OF MONTH ITEMS
Okay, the Saints lost a second game. This time to the Ravens in a game where everything went
the Ravens way. The bounces of the ball, the tipping of passes in Raven's hands, fumbles, and
interceptions for easy TD's. In spite of a commanding lead facing them, the Saints were on the
way to victory when the game ended and closed it to a respectable 35-22. Our friends and Katrina
evacuees, Annette and George Dorko, are visiting in town from their new home outside of Hot
Springs, Arkansas. We have some plants in buckets for them to take back with.
It's been another busy month out our way and hope all's well out your way. Till next month
when, God willing, we meet in these pages, may the Good Lord Bless and Keep You.
Place each half avocado in a separate serving dish, decorate with purple cabbage, add half of crabmeat over each avocado. Place cucumbers around as shown in photo and rub a tiny amount of white vinegar over each using thumb. Sprinkle the juice of a quarter lime over the crabmeat right before serving.
Chop the green onions and put aside.
Halve and peel the avocado
Slice the cucumber as shown. Leave some peeling on and run fork tines over the outside before slicing.
In a separate bowl, add the crabmeat, Wishbone dressing, sprinkle the shrimp powder and herbs, and mix thoroughly.
Please do your part by letting us know of any email address change so that you may continue receiving the DIGESTWORLD Reminders. Most of our Readers come from folks who don't get these Reminders, but we offer the DIGESTWORLD Reminder as a service to our regular Good Readers.
If the above canned emails don't work on your system, you can send a Subscribe/Unsubscribe request to the address found on this page: http://www.doyletics.com/bobby.htm Please include your first and last name when Subscribing.
== == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ==
“Water” (2005) An 8-yr-old girl Chuyia becomes a widow without ever meeting her husband and is doomed to live in a widow’s enclave among decrepit women who were languishing there. It is a story of how one widow broke free from the life imprisonment and found love and happiness again for a short time. 
Nonc Boudreaux and Tante Alice [tahn' tah lees'] have been taking their nephew T-Paul with them to the Lafayette Shrimp & Petroleum Fest every year for ten years, ever since he was three. And every time they pass by the "Biplane Rides $10" sign, T-Paul asks to go on it. "Please, Nonc, can I go?" Boudreaux would always look at the sign and says "Mais, non! Dat cost $10, and $10 is $10."
In his book 
[page 44] Till now he lacks compassion for your pain;
The fragile being of the inner sight
The dictum over Apollo’s Temple in Greece said, “Know Thyself.” We cannot know ourselves until we recognize that we are taught in school to call the world is an illusion. What we call the world is but the garments covering reality and we err greatly if we confusion the clothing of a person with the person. Our schools are so powerful in their teaching methods that we often see things which aren’t and act as if they were real. This process of everyday hallucination by the masses is amply illustrated in the story of “The King’s New Clothes.” It took a child, someone who has not been “carefully taught” to see the reality that the King had no clothes on. Since we are taught to take the clothes of the world for the world itself, if we are asked what happens if we remove the clothes (i.e. we die), then we must in conformation with our schooling say, “We cease to exist.” Those who err in such dramatic fashion, and one may presume that the majority of many cultures do so, are those who need most the advice of the creed of Apollo. Know Thyself is know yourself as a full human being of body, soul, and spirit who lives in a spirit world between death and a new birth and lives through lifetimes on Earth perfecting oneself as a spiritual being.
After the Eyre thing, women everywhere started to dress like Thursday who thought the whole chinos and a shirt fad was ridiculous. She asked the wife of a colleague dressed that way:
