January 2010 Archives

Sue and I are in here somewhere. When the balloon goes into the stands, we're just to the left of it. We were maybe 12-15 seats over and at about the same level as the balloon's basket. I was wearing a black overcoat. I don't remember what Sue was wearing. The resolution isn't really good enough to make us out. This is the only Super Bowl I've ever attended and probably ever will attend. Sue and I were in that endzone, Mom and Dad were in the other, and I'm not sure where Bob and Ann were but they were there, too.

On Saturday, January 23, we celebrated my Mom's 80th birthday. It was a surprise for her. The weather was very snowy, mixed with freezing rain. Some weren't able to attend because of the bad weather (bummer!), but the rest of us met at Gary's cabin, and then went over to Mom & Dad's caravan style. Once there we filed into the house for the surprise, and what a surprise it was! Everyone brought food and cake for the festivities. All in all it was a fabulous way to celebrate 80 years of the best Mom ever. Here are a couple of photos of the day.

A surprised Mom

Some of the party gang

Waitin' to light the candles

CrabAppleLane Power Line - September 1, 2008 8:40AM

As I was preparing for Hurricane Gustav about a year and a half ago, I had lamented that I hadn't taken care of a pine branch that was extended out over our power line. The branch had survived Hurricane Katrina somehow but it had grown outward considerably since then. I said I would get to it if it survived Gustav. It did survive. I never got to it. My plan was to have a professional come out and do it. It's 12 to 15 feet up and it's right above the power line as you can see. I didn't get a price but I'm guessing it would have been a couple of hundred bucks. Well, money has gotten tighter since then and I had no choice but to live with it a while longer or try to do it, myself. It should be noted that getting up high on a ladder with a chainsaw near a power line was never going to get very high up off of the bottom of my to do list.

CrabAppleLane Pines - January 27, 2010

A new plan came to us by shear luck. Some parish contractors were clearing tree branches from the utility poles not long ago and one of the men came up to our door and knocked. Patsy answered. They told her they could remove it for us if we wanted them to ... for free. Sold. They did it today.

I'll watch bits and pieces of the first half of the AFC Championship game today and may tune in for the end but I can't really focus on that one. The Colts and Jets are both deserving teams. I like the Colts to win because of their defense.

I mentioned to my friend, Hyde, who is also a long-suffering and lifelong Saints fan, that if there will be a celebration tonight after the NFC Championship Game by Saints fans, it will be equal parts joy and relief. He thinks more relief than joy. I don't think Saints fans have ever had as much of themselves invested in a game before. To use the popular Texas Hold 'Em declaration, we're ALL IN. It's entirely too much of a burden to put on the team but they've said all along they want to win it for us. Good Luck to the Vikings and their excellent fans but

Deuce is on the loose! My principal came over the loud speaker yesterday at 11:30am to make an announcement "Breaking News: The Saints just resigned Deuce McCalister for the playoffs!" and the whole school erupted in cheers, teachers walked into the hallway to high five each other! Did I mention we were all wearing black & gold, students paid a $1 for that privilege! Who Dat fever is all over! The boys also wore black and gold to school (their privilege was free!) Phil said the restaurant erupted into cheers as well when the news scrolled across the bottom of ESPN, which his TVs are tuned to all day. I wore my Pierre Thomas jersey yesterday (a Christmas gift from Phil that he is supposed to get signed for me). I'll wear my signed Deuce McCalister jersey today for the game. He was a participant in Phil's Burgerpalooza fund raiser two years ago and he signed my jersey.

We're not going to the game today and I'm so bummed about it. Playoff tickets just weren't in the budget. Phil took over a friend of a friend's season tickets this year b/c the friend had triplets. They offered them to Phil again next year...we'll see when August rolls around if we can afford it. It was a lot of fun this season going to all the games. Jacob and Jackson each got a turn to go, with Jackson getting to go to the Giants game to see his hero, Eli Manning. I bought him a Giants shirt and I thought it would be fun for him to wear it to the game; Phil didn't so he wore his Saints jersey! We're going to Angela's to watch the game on their monstrous TV, thankfully she has a DVR now so we can pause the game to deal with the inevitable interruptions from the six kiddos that will be there. David Clayton will be there as well and probably Mama. She's making barbecue venison and I'll hold my nose as I eat it! I'm bringing a dip or two. Geaux Saints!

Sorry Minnesota but we're not giving up this year...it's going to be a Black and Gold Superbowl!!! Better luck next year!

Check out this song that's playing all over the radio.