Merry Christmas!

The day was bright and shinny! It was cold and breezy. It was Christmas Day.

Last night we went to Mass at St. Mary's for 6:15. The choir there is awesome and very large. Maybe the largest in the city. Since we're 'Roaming Catholics', we've been to a few around town. Also, St. Mary's has about a 15 member hand bell choir. Fantastic. There was a 30 minute concert before the seven o'clock mass. What a great way to start Christmas! The pew we were in was empty. My cousin, Yvette and her family showed up and sat with us. We were happy to see her and her grown-up children. It was very warm and cozy in that beautiful church.

The church was designed by an architect that I knew very well. We were engaged right after college. He designed a beautiful church. It is warm and comforting. The altar society did a good job of putting up Christmas decorations in it.

Today, Bill came for breakfast and gift exchanging. He got some very thoughtful gifts for us. I cooked a big Christmas dinner and we all ate too much. So, what else is new?

Well, I got a blue bike for Christmas and a lot of Kitchen apps. Very nice! I was blessed. The bike was not a surprise as Gordon wanted it to be. I happened to go outside when he was taking it out of the truck. He was very surprised and upset that I "caught" him. Giggle! He should have waited until he was sure I wouldn't be going outside.

I wanted a good grater for cheeses, etc. Gordon got me a really good one. I washed it and as I was drying it, I cut up my finger. Already! And I haven't used it yet! I had to put pressure with a gauze pad, then with a band aid and a plastic glove in order to cook dinner. You find a way, huh? Dinner was very good. We had baked pork loin, cornbread dressing, green beans, roasted potatoes, garlic bread, ambrosia and for dessert, Baked apples. Yumm! It is almost 7 pm. We ate about 12:30 pm. I haven't been able to eat the baked apple because I am still so full.

Billy took two plates of food home with him. He also took TWO baked apples. He has lost a lot of weight and now wears size 38 pants. He was in a 44 when he went to see a doctor to pacify me. The Doc told him to lose weight. That did it. He is six feet tall and weighs about 238. He just turned 40 and really looks good.

December activities

It seems like we have a prescribed routine for December which I really don't like. It's Christmas shopping. The best part about going Christmas shopping is that in the middle of a day of Christmas shopping, we have to eat, so we eat in a 'new to us' establishment. I am beginning to think that Gordon only wants to go with me to Christmas shop because he wants to see what I am looking at so he will know what to get me for Christmas. We really should stop doing this Christmas gifting.

Gosh, already this year, we've had to buy a Trane. Yes, Trane, not Train. It's the brand name of an air conditioning/heating unit. About in the middle of October, we had a "winter check" of our heating unit. The trusted man, Guidry, went up into the attic, and checked it out. He said the unit had rusted and there was a fire shooting out of the side of the unit.

We moved here four years ago. The unit was here, we don't know how long. Just last summer, the air conditioning unit needed some repair. Since we didn't know the future, we decided to replace both units. Tranes aren't cheap. That should have been our Christmas present to each other, but Gordon didn't go for that!

So, we have to go out in the drizzly, foggy weather, in the heavy Christmas traffic and he watches me buy presents for others. The reason I know he is trying to watch me to determine a gift for me is that whenever we go into a clothing store, he touches all of the shirts. Men's shirts! So, I know I must get him a new shirt for Christmas. He also looked at football books when we were in Barnes and Nobles. We went in to look for a book on Reagen for Billy and he is in the aisle with sports books.

Last week, we were at Target. I saw an electric griddle I would like to have. We bought it, I wrapped it and I am waiting for Gordon to sign the card; "To: Brenda From: Gordon" before I put it under the tree. I will not use it until I unwrap it on Christmas.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Kitchenary. I will find a cheese grater and then I will show Gordon which one I want. After we leave, he will return to get the grater. Then, he will have them wrap it for him.

Is this CRAZY or what?

Christmas, etc.

I love the clothes you wear at Christmastime. I love the good and special food around. I love the music. I love the traditions. I love the decorations. I love the heart-warming Christmas tv movies. I love the party gatherings.

What I don't like is the commercialism of the Season.

This year, on December 4th, 2009..... we had snow. Yes, SNEAUX fell in Lafayette, Louisiana. There were two high school football games in the area at the time of the snow. One of the games was on tv. Watching it reminded us of the Green Bay Packers Lambaugh Field. Yeah! It did! Only, you could tell this was a kids game. After the game was over, the kids were rolling in the snow. It was played on a turf field, so it was not messy with mud. Looked fun to me.

Fall is in the air and the birds are migrating.

I do believe we will be into Fall very soon if it isn't here already! The persimmons are getting yellow-orange, we're getting a mass of brown, orange and yellow leaves on the grass. It's feeling a tad cooler. I am filling bird feeders every day. We have five hummingbird feeders, five seed feeders and one suet feeder. Fall is bird migration time. We're seeing a lot of birds, but some aren't migrating, they stay here year round. They must be storing fat for the winter months. Is this an indication that winter will be harsh this year? In about November I will take down all but one of the the hummingbird feeders. We must leave one up for those birds that for some reason do not make the trip south to Central America. Two years ago we had one. It visited every day until Spring.

Please see the Pictures about the Critters. It was a special event I went to on Saturday. The man banding the birds at the Humming Bird Day said one of the birds he banded in Lafayette three years ago was caught (for banding) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia the next year. Then it was also reported in Ohio the year after. That means, it left from Lafayette, went to Central America, flew to Vancouver Island, flew to Central America, flew to Ohio. WoW! Those little bitties travel!

When the bird is banded, it has a number on the band. That number is the reference for the bird. When banded, its weight, and many linear measurements are taken. This is sent to a central data bank that keeps track of the birds. See the pictures of the Hummingbird affair. It was an awesome experience.

Football Season is upon us.

It's Friday night! Gordon really enjoys high school football. Friday nights are reserved for high school football. So, for the next three or so months, I will be a Friday night widow. Okay with me, as long as I don't have to go. I did my 'stint' in the stadium for 15 years when Gordon coached. I was happy to be there, but now that I don't know anyone, it's okay to be home. Bill and I usually go out to eat on Friday nights during the season. It's our "treat" for being sane. Tee hee hee.

I am in the Football Stadium on Saturday nights, that's when the Colleges play. We have tickets to the UL home games. Sometimes, I even watch college football on TV. Amazing! I also used to watch the Saints, but I don't usually get into that if I have watched a lot on Saturday. There are other things to do with my precious time. Like sometimes take a Sunday afternoon nap.

 

Activity in our BackYard

It has been raining a lot lately. Compared to our heated June, this is cool. It hasn't gotten to 90° in a week. Our backyard birds alert us to an impending rain. They flutter around eating. We know it is coming, because, right before a rain, we have more than 50 birds in the yard. All kinds, but mainly Cardinals and House Finches. We also have hummingbirds, but they don't eat birdseed, they have a sugar diet at their feeders.

Today, we went to Lowe's for more black oil birdseed. In two weeks, the birds have eaten 60 pounds of black oil birdseed. That's a lot! Well, maybe, it wasn't all birds. Two nights ago, we did see that a raccoon had climbed up a pole and was helping himself to the seed. That was not an easy task. We knew he was hungry to do that. We do feed 3-4 raccoons at night. They eat table scraps and cat food. They come every night. Also, we have seen opossums after the raccoons leave. Then, we also have a stray black cat that dines with us in the morning and the evening. He doesn't let us touch him yet, but he's pretty faithful at his dish.

We call him Hobo. He doesn't know his name. He only knows that he wants food and that we provide it. To him, we are his servants. This is a little unsettling to our pet, Wee. Wee is a black cat also. He is 15 and is MY "honey" cat. We love each other and I am usually in his view wherever he is.

The other day, I bought some Purina Cat Chow for Hobo and the raccoons. It was on sale. Wee did not care for the cheap food I had before. But, this food, he likes. He wants to eat while Hobo is eating. Wee is not a Boss Cat, but Hobo is, so Wee cowers nearby waiting for Hobo to finish his meal. Wee eats Science Diet because he has poor digestion and should not eat the rich Purina food. So, we are having a small problem.

So, besides birds, raccoons, cats, opossums in your backyard, we also have lizards, squirrels, frogs and moles. We want to get rid of the moles, but we don't know how. We like everything else. So, I guess we've got to take the good with the bad and the moles will be there whether we want them or not.

It wasn't so hot!

On Saturday night at about 8:30, we noticed that it was HOT in the house. Checking the thermostat, we found it was 80°F. Yep, it was a weekend, and the AC had frozen over. That's when these things happen, huh? Luckily, we have a "Hurricane Use; 110 Room AC" that we put into the window of the bedroom. It worked! We did stay cool all night, and it wasn't so hot inside during the day Sunday. We have ceiling fans in just about all of the rooms. They were on "full speed".

On Sunday, we managed the heat which wasn't so bad. It was overcast most of the day. Thankfully, the mosquitoes did not get inside in the openings around the window air conditioner. We tried to stuff newspaper and cardboard in all the holes, but we missed some. This house his very, well insulated.

To manage the heat on Sunday, we went to mass mid morning, then we kept the kitchen from getting hot. We did Don's Downtown for lunch. In the afternoon, after his nap in the cool bedroom, Gordon went to Bill's to help him clean out his air conditioner.

We survived another night Sunday. We set the alarm to make sure we were on the phone Monday at 7 am. We called Gene Guidry of Breaux Bridge. Cousin Milton Guilbeau had given us his name when we moved here. Gene said he'd try to get to us in the morning. At about 10:40 am, as we were having ice tea outside, he drove up. In an hour our AC was on again. The problem was a malfunctioning relay. We appreciate air conditioning. But, more.... we appreciate the repairman who went up into the hot attic to fix the relay.

We CHILLED in Alaska in July

On July 14, 2009 my husband, Gordon, grandson, Spencer and I flew to Anchorage, Alaska to experience the great northwest state. It was truly a trip of a lifetime. There were no really big, problems to overcome. One would think that having such different age groups, the experience would have been just par. It was not! The differences in age and culture made our visit extraordinary.

Our nephew, Tiger, lives with his family in Anchorage. He is an engineer with BP. His wife, Oskana, is Russian. Alaska was once owned by Russia. His mother-in-law, Luba, was with them at the time. Elizabeth was born in March. Luba is there to help Oskana with the baby. Katherine is almost 7. She is fluent in English and Russian and can read both. They live in an extremely comfortable home on the outskirts of Anchorage.

One of the oddities was the amount of daylight. We had a difficult time realizing when it was time for bed. The sun was up past 11:30 pm. It rose again about 4:30 am. We did sleep, but due to the daylight, we had time to "get a lot done" which we did.

The first couple of days, we were "inbetween" places, so we ate trail food and one major meal a day. Spencer's parents claimed he ate all the time. Not in Alaska. We ate hallibut, salmon, scallops, cheeseburgers (Spencer), and reindeer burgers. Also of note, Spencer is almost 15. He rarely had his cell phone out. He did not use his I-Pod or any other electronic game. He said, "I didn't have time." He was a great traveler and we enjoyed our time with him. His excitement and interest made it all the more fun.

Tiger fed us planked salmon, bear sausage and Dungeness crabs. Yumm! Oskana and her mother made caviar with the salmon eggs Spencer got out of the Pink Salmon he caught. WoW! Yes, the planked salmon was the fish caught by our posse who fished at Bird Creek.

One other memorable moment was our Glacier tour. We did this on our own. We saw Portage Glacier and Exit Glacier up close. We also saw Middle Glacier. However, Matanuska Glacier held the greatest experience as we got to walk on it. It was cool and kool!

Downtown Alaska, Wasilla, Eklutna Russian Orthodox Museum, Turnagain Arm, Seward, Magadan Birthday, Trails around Flat Top Mountain, Alaska Zoo, Alaska Botanical Gardens, and the Alaska Heritage Museum were all places we visited. The roadways of Alaska are scenic post card views.

Of real interest was the Magadan Birthday Celebration. It seems that Magadan, Siberia, Russia has been "twinned" with Anchorage. There is a lot of Russian influence in Alaska. Most of the people at the Birthday Party have origins in Magadan. The people were celebrating the 70th Birthday of Magadan. Oskana and her Russian dance troupe were invited to dance at the celebration. Oskana is not from Magadan, she is from Kyrgyzstan. We went with Oskana. We had Russian hor d'oeuvres before the main presentation. We heard Russian speakers, we heard Russian music, we saw Russian dancers. We were immersed. It was very impressive and we felt that we had been blessed with an experience that no other tourist had gotten to have.

We, Cajuns, were on our own for the first two days. After that, we turned in the rental car and were together with Tiger's family. We had a treasured time in Alaska and all of us experienced what we wanted to experience. Alaska is a Great State.