We tried a restaurant we'd never been to last night. It's a restaurant that specializes in catfish and seafood pretty close to CrabAppleLane in a part of Covington called Barker's Corner. I've been disappointed with the seafood here on the north shore the last few years. On the south shore in New Orleans, the seafood is excellent and fairly consistent wherever you go. On the north shore, it is wildly inconsistent from one place to the next, one visit to the next. It is so frustrating that I usually don't bother and just get a burger or something from the non-seafood portion of the menu. It's called Rick's Catfish Cabin. I took a chance and got the seafood platter. It was excellent and there was a lot more on the plate than I expected. I love stuffed crabs but I especially love stuffed shrimp. The platter had both. It also had a healthy portion of very good fried catfish, fried shrimp, hush puppies, french fries, and fried oysters, which I gave to Patsy. It has earned a spot in the rotation.
Stick a fork in her. What a fabulous story of triumph over adversity. Get well soon, Darian.
Minnesota and Baylor square off today in Baton Rouge in an elimination game. The winner gets LSU and their All-American ace pitcher, Louis Coleman, a little bit afterward. I like the Tigers' chances to advance.
A tip of the cap to Texas and Boston College on their epic 25-inning baseball game last night. The Longhorns pulled out the victory, 3-2. A game like that allows for a sentence like this from the Associated Press:
Texas reliever Austin Wood pitched 13 innings, including 12 1-3 innings of no-hit ball before allowing a two-out single to Tony Sanchez in the 19th inning.
And this:
Tucker's hit came in his NCAA-record 12th at-bat to tie a mark he now shares with teammate Michael Torres, who also batted 12 times.
I doubt I will ever read anything like that again ... but I'm glad I didn't have to sit through it. Boston College faces Army today in an elimination game and there just can't be much left in the Eagles' tank. All I can say is WOW.
I offer three from the CrabAppleLane backyard on this magnificent, but hot, Sunday:
CrabAppleLane Grape Tomatoes - May 31, 2009
CrabAppleLane Trails - May 31, 2009
CrabAppleLane Surprise - May 31, 2009
Easily my favorite picture today. Thanks to Patsy for spotting it from our upstairs bathroom window. I'd like to think this balloon has traveled a great distance ... maybe an escaped Memorial Day balloon that has been traveling for a week ... or maybe even a balloon released by a child on his/her birthday in February. It's now in a tree in my yard and I'm reminded of Charlie Brown's kite-eating tree (One of the coolest Wikipedia articles I've ever read). The owner can pick it up any time. Bring your climbing shoes, though.
The QOTD is talking about Aliens. That is one of the most intense movies I ever saw. It's fantastic. It's very rare when the sequel tops the very good original.
Quote of the Day
Action thrillers assail but rarely test us; this is the tautest, most provoking, and altogether most draining example ever made.
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "It's annoying enough that the online SJ-R mixes in petty crime updates with their real stories, but this is ridiculous. Overexposing petty crime isn't good reporting and it promotes a distorted, unhealthy view of our community."
Been there, done that, with the chainsaw. I've seen even worse mishaps, though not anyone seriously hurt. I am very comfortable about walking the woods. Cutting them down? Not so much.
Congrats to the Tigers. They did everything they needed to do yesterday. Best wishes from me for the rest of the tournament.
This area that I'm tinkering around in is kind of pie-shaped and has some beautiful pine trees but it also has some pretty shabby pine trees loaded with parasitic vines or poison ivy or still leaning from Hurricane Katrina. There are also some live oaks, black cherries, and tung nut trees that could stand some more sunlight. I have an idea of what I want this area to look like when I'm through but it's evolving. Ultimately, I want it to be a place where I can go with my camera or a book and just hang out.
Oh, and the Tigers have the pitching to win this thing. It's up to their bats to keep it going. The Gophers acquitted themselves very well. Coming out of the losers' bracket is hard against the home team and their star pitcher.
When I lived in the country we had a tree that looked like it should almost fall down on its own. To help it out I'd go and cut a bit into it each day -- enough that I was sure the wind would take it over in the night. I did this day after day.
Finally, my neighbor got tired of watching my experiment and drove over with some wedges and his chainsaw. He had it down in just a few minutes. At one point he had the smallest bit -- and I mean just a few 'threads' of tree uncut which still kept it from falling over. It made me realize just how fruitless my cut-and-wait method would have been.
Partially-cut trees would worry me too much, Delmer. If I start cutting, I try to finish.