Memorial Day Links 2012

It's been a memorable Memorial Day around SIGIS.

After talking about it and not doing anything about it for several years, Steve and I finally joined the Lowe-McFarlane American Legion Post 14 today.  We were headed out that way today for their "casting of the wreath" Memorial Day ceremony anyway, so we gathered our paperwork and went a little early and signed up.

The post was chartered in 1919 just six days after Congress granted the American Legion a national charter.  The post is housed on 11 acres on a beautiful point on Cross Lake and is very active in numerous service organizations.  I went ahead and signed up for the Auxiliary, too.

We got our paperwork done and then were given a tour of the facility.  There's a huge meeting room with a beautiful view of the lake and a "grand ballroom" upstairs with an even prettier view of the lake.  There's a fishing pier, lots of historical artifacts, a lounge with an outdoor patio, an RV park, a kids playground, a boat pier, and lots of really nice people.

The wreath ceremony was held on the point where a nice breeze kept the heat tolerable:

The ceremony included he tolling of the bell and a reading of the names of the fallen.

A few boats gathered at the point to participate.

Then the wreath was cast on the waters...

After the ceremony we adjourned to the lounge for a little while before heading home for smoked brisket and fresh veggies from our Coushatta trip this week.

The Shreveport Times has a nice photo gallery of the wreath ceremony.

A quick round-up of Memorial Day posts:

Goldfish and Clowns:

You see, my father was a soldier. He did not set out in life to be one, but the world dictated otherwise back in the satanic onyx days of the early 1940s, and so a soldier he became. He fought long and well in a different kind of battlefield than the soldiers slogging through the mud below. He was huddled in his radio operator’s station aboard a freezing B-29 over Japan, focused on the task at hand while thinking about the young bride waiting for him back home again in Indiana. 

 The Daley Gator has videos.

Legal Insurrection is remembering Lt. Roslyn Schulte.

Ed Driscoll points out that not everyone is moved by thoughts of the fallen on Memorial Day and cites the rhetoric of MSNBC's Chris Hayes as an example.

Pundette looks at some Medal of Honor citations.

Paco links to Rep. Alan West's remarks.

Pirate's Cove has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Philadelphia.

Politicaljunkie Mom posts the now iconic photo of a grieving fiance and also shares the photographer's remarks.

Sippican Cottage has a beautiful post.

And, of course, Michelle Malkin has a link-filled lovely post.

Tomorrow the three day weekend is over and many will stow their flags in a closet until the next holiday - July 4, perhaps.  Meanwhile, brave Americans will continue to fight for our freedoms and serve with honor.

Never forget.

Take a Trip to Coushatta Down Louisiana Backroads

It's Memorial Day weekend so that means a trip to Ed Lester Farms for the first veggie haul of the season at our house.

Steve and I pulled the windows out of the Jeep today and headed south, down La. Highway 1, to Coushatta.

 If you've ever read this blog before you know that Steve and I always go places on the back roads and shun the interstate whenever possible.  Highway 1 isn't exactly a back road but it's less traveled ever since I49 opened.  The Haynesville Shale has brought a lot more traffic to Highway 1 in the past few years but not before lots of little towns and communities dried up.

Both Highway 1 and I49 go south out of Shreveport but it's a little hard to tell from this map:

At any rate, we headed south and in about 45 minutes we were at Ed Lester Farms on the Red River in Coushatta.

It's a little early and they aren't fully stocked just yet, but we loaded up with enough to last up for a couple of weeks until their full spread comes in.

I got some fresh pinto beans (which Steve had to shell when we got home):

I got some Armistead sweet onions and a new variety called Cajun Spice; we're told that's "a hot onion."

We stocked up on fresh yellow squash:

And Steve filled two brown paper bags with new potatoes and sweet corn:

Of course, you can always just sit among the caladiums and catch the breeze off the river while you listen to the jazz or big band swing coming from the speakers:

This is what is coming:

We'll be back in a couple of weeks to fill the freezer!

We paid for our veggies, climbed in the Jeep and crossed the river into town:

It was lunch time and that means Bailey's hamburgers:

It's hard to explain how great these hamburgers are.  Steve says when he eats one he can feel his arteries clogging up.  They're the messiest, juiciest hamburgers I've ever seen.  They're just good old homemade burgers.  We discovered this place by watching one day to see where the locals go.  They go to Bailey's when it's lunchtime; the place is an institution.

You just walk up to the window, place your order, and hang out until it's ready.  You can sit at the picnic table and eat or in your car, or you can take it with you.  They've got burgers, chili dogs, hot dogs, that sort of thing.  Bring cash - they don't take debit or credit cards.

After our fine meal we drove through Coushatta (pop. about 2,300) headed toward Nichols store.  We passed Shakey Rays and I gave a little thought to going inside; maybe next time:

Nichols has everything from Wranglers and white rubber oyster boots to high end home decor - (heavy on the fleur de lis motif); you can get candles, baby clothes, ammo, toys, toothpaste...just your typical dry goods store.

Steve especially enjoyed what we called the Redneck section.  On that aisle you can get a fish mailbox:

Shotgun shell salt and pepper shakers:

Decor for your man cave:

Or for your bathroom:

How about a rope lamp:

And for the budding hunter in training you can get this nifty set with windup animals that he can shoot with a rubber dart gun.  I think Steve really wanted this.  I could just see little white tailed deer marching across his desk at work while he shoots them down with his dart gun.

Steve was a little disappointed that he is too big to ride "Sandy":

I bought an oil lamp and some cherry sour balls and Steve bought a couple of t-shirts and we headed north.

Instead of our usual return route up U.S. Highway 71 we turned off onto La. Highway 515 which runs a little closer to the river and through the community of East Point.  It's a pretty little drive through swampy areas:

and pastures:

Did you know if you stop the car and say "Hey Cows!" they'll stop eating and look right at you?

RIGHT at you:

We crossed a bayou:

Soon we hooked back up to Hwy. 71 which led us right to the Red River Lock and Dam No. 5 and since we were right there, we turned off to see how high the river is.

We visited with a park ranger that was there for a bit and we watched the egrets fly over the water:

We found a walking stick:

and I made a one minute video of the water.  I love the sound of the water coming through the spillway:



Finally we climbed back in the Jeep and headed home.  The hay bales reminded me of Iowa, where Steve is from:

Now we're settled in for the evening watching baseball (Rangers then the Cubs) and I'm cooking fresh pinto beans, sweet corn, squash and cornbread.  If I'd only gone inside Shakey Rays I could be fixing turtle meat, too.  Oh well, hindsight.  (I've never actually had turtle meat.)

Another successful day trip!

The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:

Take a Sunday Drive in North Caddo Parish

Take a Trip to Minden's First Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival

Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation

Brett Kimberlin Tests the Courts

Stacy McCain is still in hiding but reports that Brett Kimberlin will be in court Tuesday:

Convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin’s failed attempt to silence bloggers who tell the truth about Kimberlin’s criminality will be the subject of a court hearing Tuesday morning in Montgomery County, Maryland. 

Kimberlin, who in 1981 was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for his Indiana bombing spree and other crimes, has requested a “peace order” against Virginia attorney Aaron Walker, who says Kimberlin tried to “frame” him on an assault charge earlier this year. The final hearing on Kimberlin’s peace order request – which Walker has described as “frivolous” – is scheduled for Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. in Montgomery County District Court (191 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, Md. 20850), according to the court’s official Web site.

Hopefully the courts will recognize this suit for the frivolous mess that it is.  And hopefully the disinfectant of sunshine will continue to shine on Kimberlin.

If you missed it, be sure to read Patterico's tale of intimidation.

Will the Choom Gang Story Cost Obama Any Votes?

So it turns out Obama was a stoner in high school.  Who knew?

Does it matter?  That's a legitimate question - I'd like to know if this information is going to sway anyone's vote this fall.

That Obama smoked pot in high school is the least of his offenses, it seems to me.  I'm not defending smoking weed, mind you.  It just seems to me there are much more obvious reasons to vote him out of office.

The more relevant part of this Obama-was-a-stoner story seems to be the obvious fact that nobody knew anything about him and yet elected him anyway.  Oh, sure, Obama wrote in his memoir that he smoked pot in his youth, but apparently nobody cared.  And now, it turns out, he was quite the avid and innovative smoker.  Will the fact that he was more interested in pot than we knew make any difference?

I'm sorry, but it seems a non-story to me at this point.  The people that voted for him in the first place probably won't care that he smoked pot; to many of them it might even be a plus.

Of course we don't want the President of the United States to be stoned but I don't think anyone is claiming that he's still smoking pot, are they?

I'm more interested in the fact that he's crushing the middle class.

I'm more interested in the way he's crippling American energy independence.

I'm more interested in his campaign against coal.

I'm more interested in his massive spending.

I'm more interested in his government takeover of health care.

There are lots of things that concern me more than Obama's pot smoking youth.   Do I think he's an embarrassment to this country (for lots of reasons besides smoking pot)?  You betcha.  But do I think we're going to defeat him in November by confirming something he's already admitted to?  Not really.

As Allapundit notes, "Apparently, we elected Pauly Shore."  

Vote him out and move on.

Standing With Conservative Bloggers Against Kimberlin

I'm rather averse to posting things when I have nothing to contribute to the story.  I try to avoid being part of the echo chamber.

That said, I'm going to just point you to some others who are covering the story of Brett Kimberlin and his campaign of intimidation against Stacy McCain and others in the conservative blogosphere because I think it's important that people know who this guy is and what he's doing.

Start here, with this post by Patterico.  It explains who Kimberlin is and how dangerous he is.

Michelle Malkin has an excellent post on this story, too.

Check Stacy McCain's site, too.  He's now in hiding because of this Kimberlin person.  Stacy's posts can fill in some of the big names that have funded Kimberlin.

Both of these sites have multiple links that you can follow.

Check also Memeorandum for the massive aggregation of stories about this.

And you might note that the mainstream media isn't covering this at all that I can tell.

Like I said, I don't want to be part of the echo chamber, but this is different.  When a man has to take his wife and kids and move out of his home in order to feel safe then something is definitely wrong.

I'm standing with conservative bloggers in outing this guy.

Memorial Day Events in Shreveport 2012

Memorial Day weekend is upon us.  Too many people think of Memorial Day as just the first official three day weekend of the summer, or a day off work to grill and sit by the pool.  That's all well and good but take a moment to remember the reason for the holiday.

Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of those who died in service to our nation.  You can read about the history of Memorial Day here.

We're flying the flag at chez SIGIS and have the front walkway lined with small flags.  I put this arrangement together this morning (pictured left) for the grave of the fallen Vietnam soldier that Steve and I have adopted at Greenwood Cemetery.  We'll place it this weekend in time for the annual Memorial Day service at the cemetery.  I'm not sure yet of the date and time of he Greenwood Cemetery ceremony; I believe it's on Wednesday this year at 1:00, but I'll confirm and update.

Observations around Shreveport will include a service at the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery in Keithville:

On Monday, May 28 beginning at 12:00 noon Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery located in Keithville will host a Memorial Day ceremony honoring our country's fallen military personnel.  

General Charles Campbell of the United States Army (Retired) will be featured as the Keynote Speaker at the event.  Colonel Ted Cox, United States Army (Retired) will serve as Master of Ceremonies. 

The Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery is located at 7970 Mike Clark Rd. in Keithville, LA. 

Sunday, the Paradise Baptist Church on Hollywood Ave. will host a Salute to Veterans Program with mayor Cedric Glover as speaker:

This event will take place on Sunday, May 27, 2012 at 5:00 p.m., at the Paradise Baptist Church, 1706 Hollywood Ave., Shreveport, LA., Rev. Robert C. Hudson, Pastor. 

There will be a 30 minute musical prelude performed by a 20 member wind and string ensemble starting at 4:30 p.m.   

This ensemble includes music educators from throughout the Ark-La-Tex.  A variety of patriotic music will be performed.

There will be a ceremony at Hillcrest Cemetery in Haughton at 9:00 a.m. Monday.  If the Greenwood ceremony isn't until Wednesday we will probably attend this one.

For the readers, you can't go wrong with Jules Crittenden's massive "Combat Reads" post from 2010.

If there's anyone on the planet who has not yet read Marcus Luttrell's Lone Survivor, I'd add that to the list.  I'm currently reading his latest work, Service.

And since we still have to eat on Memorial Day, after we've paid tribute we'll grill something and probably watch some baseball.  Instead of my usualy BBQ chicken I think I'll do a brisket this year and make this pretty salad.

I'll continue to add updates of local events and I come across them.  The local American Legion post always does their traditional casting of the wreath of the waters of Cross Lake but I can't find any info on that yet.  I'm sure there are plenty of other events scheduled as well.

Come back for updates!

Updated 5/25/12:


The Times has its list of events today.  The Greenwood Cemetery event is in fact Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.

Other events:
The Lowe-McFarlane Ameican Legion Post will again host the "casting the wreath upon the waters" at 2:00 p.m.

It's a Generational Thing

This is what my Honors English II kids were playing in my 2nd block right before the bell rang to go home today:



And this is what I was hearing:



Must be a generational thing.

I'm going to miss those kids!

Bring on summer!

That's a Wrap

Take a Sunday Drive in North Caddo Parish

I was about five minutes away from an exhaustion-overloaded induced meltdown this afternoon when Steve, seeing the danger signs, put me in the Jeep and took the top down.

With absolutely no destination in mind, we headed north up La. Highway 71 toward Belcher and Gilliam.  

It's pretty country up that way and the corn is definitely up!

We stopped in Gilliam (pop.178) first.  History lesson:  At the turn of the century a man named Bob Gilliam bought the land and it was called Gilliam Place.  The railroad wanted to come through there and Mr. Gilliam donated the right-of-way to the railroad as long as the railroad agreed to put a depot there and call it Gilliam.  Tracks came through in 1888.  In 1902 the Red River broke through the levee and flooded Gilliam.  

In 1908 a cyclone came through and destroyed all but one house in the town.  Nearly forty people were killed and many more were injured.  The railroad helped out by making rail cars available for people to store their belongings until they could rebuild.

They still gin cotton in Gilliam and the town has one of five cotton gins still in Caddo Parish.

There's a great restaurant there, but it closes at 2 on Sunday:

A couple of buildings over is the Gilliam store:

There are a couple of benches out front and I sat and sipped a Coke and watched the traffic (not much of it) rush by on the highway.  You probably can't tell it in this picture but there's an old, rusty push mower leaning against the wall over to the left and an old plow sitting out there.  The date on the newspaper in that paper box is about two weeks ago.

We wandered around behind the store and found this old cotton press:

Here's the marker explaining how it works:

Behind the restaurant I saw this:

I'm not sure what it is but I hope they don't use those cast iron pots anymore.  They've seen better days.

We got back in the Jeep and headed back south to Belcher.  

More corn.

Belcher (pop. 272)  is another tiny little town but has some really pretty homes:

Belcher is historic because it's the site of the Belcher Mound:

We wanted to see the Veteran's Memorial.  It's actually quite nice:

There are marble slabs for each conflict and memorial bricks honoring veterans.  There's a walking path around the park, too.

We came back home through Blanchard but didn't stop anywhere notable there except for Cliff's Country Store where we bought Slim Jims and Cokes.  Road food.

My anxiety level has subsided and the meltdown has been averted.  We've put the top back on the Jeep (for now) and have settled in for a Sunday evening of baseball and a cold beer.  

If I make it through Wednesday it will all be good; summer is coming.

Related:

The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:

Take a Trip to Minden's First Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival

Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation