Guess Where I Am Today?

Loose Thoughts for Friday

I've been busy this week, thus the light posting.

I was asked to read Michael and William Henry's newest book, Atmosphere of Violence, and offer feedback and that kept me busy the front part of the week.  The book is wonderful and I'll put up a review this weekend.  You can get it now on Kindle for just $2.99; for that price you just can't go wrong.  If you like early John Grisham, you'll love this series.

I've also had several other irons in the fire this week one of which has been campaigning for Mike Grady to perform at the Highland Jazz & Blues Festival this fall.  I'm lobbying the booking committee to get him on the bill.  Grady has expressed interest in the idea and I think it would be great fun!

I've been keeping up with Barrow Peacock's insurance bill (SB655) in which he was attempting to pass legislation to require electronic or telephone verification of insurance coverage in the case of an automobile accident.  I have it on reliable source now that the bill has been killed in committee; as it happens, La. Senator Ronnie Johns of Lake Charles, who is with State Farm, and other insurance agents didn't want the bill to go through.  Go figure.  Irony in action: State Farm is currently ponying up the expenses for my son's auto accident in February because the other driver was uninsured.  Lame.

Meanwhile, in the blogosphere, my stats are in the cellar.  Good thing I don't obsess about that anymore or else I'd just turn out the lights.  I check 'em every now and then, but hey...when you can't post every day, all day, that sort of thing happens.

But since I blogged last, Rick Santorum dropped out of the race which for all intents and purposes (Newt is still technically in, and Ron Paul), means Romney is assured the nomination.  So now that we're down to a two man race and we've got our ducks in a row, what is everyone talking about?  Why, whether Ann Romney has ever worked, of course.  Whether or not raising five kids constitutes "work."  Who cares?

No disrespect intended to anyone, but aren't there more relevant issues we need to be worrying about with a critical election coming up in less than 8 months?  We've got half of the Memeorandum aggregation filled with Hilary Rosen, Ann Romney, and "the war on women"?

I've all but quit checking Drudge; he's been so blatantly Romney for so long now I got bored with that; then every banner headline was about the Trayvon Martin case often with intentionally misleading and inflammatory headlines.

I've grown weary with Hot Air, too.  Just about the only writers I enjoy reading over there are still Ed Morrissey and Allahpundit.  Since the sale to corporate it just hasn't been the same.

I miss Bride of Rove's voice of reason (she will laugh at that description).  I wish her job-life would settle and she'd get back to regular posting.

 Oh well - it's the weekend.  Five more weeks of school for me.  One of the things I'm going to be doing this summer is working on the blog (and elsewhere)  to fight against Obama's re-election.   We've got some very serious issues ahead of us and if that means coalescing behind Mitt Romney then that's what I'm going to do.

My advice to Romney right now?  Be very wise and forward thinking when you select a VP candidate.  Much depends on that choice.

That is all.

Senator Peacock Introduces Legislation to Require Verification of Auto Insurance

Louisiana Senator Barrow Peacock has introduced legislation that will amend current Louisiana automobile insurance law to include electronic or telephone verification of coverage.

The bill is SB655 and is currently assigned to the Senate Insurance Committee.

Current mandatory insurance laws are:

• In the state of Louisiana,  most vehicles must carry liability insurance. The only vehicles that do not have to carry liability insurance are parade vehicles, vehicles owned by the state of Louisiana, and buses owned by the individual Louisiana cities.
• Louisiana requires that motorist’s vehicles carry minimum liability insurance of $15,000 per person in an accident, $30,000 per accident for bodily injury or death, and $25,000 for property damage.
• All motor vehicles operating on Louisiana roadways must show proof of insurance upon request. This means that you must carry your insurance card of binder, I.D. card issued by your insurance company, your declaration page or a written statement from the insurance company at all times.

Senator Peacock's bill simply expands on this to require police officers to verify coverage beyond just looking at an insurance card that may or may not be valid or current.

You can follow the progress of this bill here

If you ask me, it's a darned good idea!


Related:
Thank You Senator Peacock!

Governor Jindal's 23 Day Rush to Reform

Governor Bobby Jindal's divisive teacher reform legislation has passed and implementation now begins.  In just 23 days Governor Jindal and his machine pushed through a comprehensive education reform package that has drawn sharp criticism and vociferous protests from teachers around the state, many of whom feel targeted, attacked and betrayed by the governor.

What was the rush?  Why the midnight votes and rushed sessions?  Why the limited debate and public input?

Recently I was having dinner in a very small, upscale, restaurant and seated nearby was a large table of jovial, outspoken local political leaders.  It was impossible not to overhear their conversation.  Several of them surmised that Jindal's rush to get this education reform package through so quickly was to sweeten the draw to him as a vice presidential candidate.  (Oh I know, he denies he wants the position but don't they all say that?)

Elliot Stonecipher has similar thoughts about Jindal's rush to reform:

Those of us keeping up with what happens behind the political curtain have a bad feeling of deja vu on that score.  I’ve written about it enough, and won’t belabor it, but the fact is Governor Jindal strong-arms these “reforms” through a pre-leased legislature each time he’s hoping to be the vice presidential candidate on his party’s ticket.  Ramping up to the 2008 presidential election it was “ethics reform,” and four years later as we gird for the 2012 campaign it’s “education reform.”  The problem is, “ethics reform” was no such thing.  It was, rather, a huge political show for a national audience which, back here on the farm, put governors and legislators in charge of ethics enforcement.  That is never a good thing anywhere, but maybe especially not in Louisiana.  For those who keep up, we know our governmental ethics regime was not reformed, it was hammered into submission by those who are, or figure they might be on any given day, unethical.

It's a thought.  Jindal has long been touted as a top name on most everyone's short list for VP candidates.  His ability to now say that he has "reformed public education in Louisiana" would be a big selling point, especially with conservatives, many of whom believe that charter schools are the answer to many public education problems.

I do not count myself in that group, by the way.  I see lots of charter schools with problems.  I also see lots of problems with Jindal's package, but that's another post.

George Will has written a piece in support of Jindal for vice president:

"Louisiana's Gov. Bobby Jindal, 40, was a 20-year-old congressional staffer when he authored a substantial report on reforming Medicare financing. At 24, he became head of Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals, with 12,000 employees and 40 percent of the state budget. Back inWashington at 26, he was executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. In 1999, he became president of Louisiana's state university system, which has 80,000 students. In 2001, he served as an assistant secretary of health and human services. He became governor after three years in Congress."

There are many in Louisiana who would be glad for Jindal to get that opportunity.  Jeff Crouere is not impressed:

Today in Louisiana, we are facing another fiscal crisis. Job growth is anemic, crime is rampant, poverty is high, our educational system is in shambles, and our road conditions are deplorable. Our population is stagnant as we have lost a quarter of our congressional delegation in the last two decades. Governing Magazine just named Louisianaas the most corrupt state in the nation. 

Jindal might the one of the Republican darlings of the nation at large but in Louisiana there are plenty of us holding our noses.

On Revising (and Erasing) History

Via Instapundit, Victor Davis Hanson has penned another piece that outlines the mass of contradictions that is Barack Obama.  It is difficult not to paste the entire thing here but start with this; after noting Obama's chastisement of the Supreme Court and his warning against overturning law, Hanson writes:

I am confused: I thought we were supposed to welcome such judicial audit. Was not that the charm of the Warren Court? Did not the Obama administration go to federal court to ask justices to set aside the Defense of Marriage Act that it was entrusted to enforce — seeking judicial help not to follow a law that it chose not to seek to overturn in Congress? 

I also thought that a younger Barack Obama once had regretted that the Supreme Court had never addressed “redistributive change” and, per the U.S. Constitution, had confined itself only to defining negative liberties rather than demanding positive “rights” that legislatures were supposed to ensure — or else. And did ObamaCare really pass with broad majorities? I thought that it received no Republican votes in the House and only squeaked by. And it would have been filibustered in the Senate without the Ted Stevens pseudo-scandal and various sweetheart deals to swing senators. Or is that now inaccurate?

Of course Mr. Hanson's memory is correct; it is Obama being the revisionist in this case.  In the mind of a narcissist like Mr. Obama, events exists only as they suit his needs.  If history needs revision, well who better to do it?

There's more:

I need to go to a re-education, or perhaps a re-memorization, camp. What happened to “unpatriotic” presidents running up $4 trillion in debt in eight years, or is trumping that in three then patriotic? Was the presidentially appointed Simpson-Bowles commission the proper bipartisan way to address deficits, or were its findings coopted by the one-percenters? In December 2010, I thought suddenly raising taxes was supposedly the wrong thing to do in tough times. Was it not by March 2011?

Again, it just depends on your point of view, I guess.

E. J. Dionne had a different point of view.  He agrees wholeheartedly with Obama's blast against the Supreme Court:

So imagine the shock when President Obama decided last week to speak plainly about what a Supreme Court decision throwing out the health-care law would mean, and then landed straight shots against the Mitt Romney-supported Paul Ryan budget as “a Trojan horse,” “an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country,” and “thinly veiled social Darwinism.”
...
Progressives would be wildly irresponsible if they sat by quietly while a conservative Supreme Court majority undid 80 years of jurisprudence. Roosevelt wasn’t a wimp, and Obama has decided that he won’t be one, either. Conservatives are unhappy because they prefer passive, intimidated liberals to the fighting kind.

People like Dionne make me want to bang my head against a wall.

Hanson has the last word:

“Truth,” after all, is not the Socratic absolute, but a socially constructed commodity, defined by power and predicated on race, class, and gender, concerns that can be made to serve the greater good, if adjudicated by — well, again, fill in the blanks.

Read the whole thing.

A Sad Loss to Front Street: The Book Merchant Has Closed Its Doors

It's the end of an era on Front Street in Natchitoches.  At least, it seems like that to me.

The Book Merchant has closed its doors.

When we tried to visit the shop this week all we found was a locked door, an empty shop, and a card taped on the door by J. Michael Kinny, "If you need me..." and his phone number.  No more shop cats sleeping in the clever window displays.  No more Princess slipping through traffic on Front Street to do whatever it is cats do on the outside.  No more smiling J. Michael with a bright greeting and soft jazz playing in the background.

Louisiana freelance writer Angie Dilmore did a nice write up last year on The Book Merchant and J. Michael here in which he chronicles his struggle to stay competitive.   The photo credit of J. Michael (above left) belongs to her.

Independent booksellers are having a rough time hanging on and keeping the doors open in this age of internet sellers and e-books.  It hasn't been the evil "big box stores" after all that have challenged the indy; it has been the e-book.  The closing of Borders books was seen by some as an opportunity for the independents to have a renaissance.

Yet last year Shreveport lost its last independent bookseller, Tower Books.  We still have some used book stores; some big box stores are hanging on - we have Books a Million in Bossier and Barnes and Noble in Shreveport.  To find (and support) and independent bookseller you'll have to drive to Grand Cane for the closest one:

That would be Vanessa Efferson's The Raven bookstore.  Vanessa stays competitive by offering books of local  interest, having book signings, and by having an area with tables where you can sit and sip Starbucks coffee while you browse or read.  There are also book clubs open for your participation.  Vanessa stocks various gift items, first editions, and other oddities to catch your eye.  Like J. Michael Kinny, Vanessa is friendly, personable, and remembers everyone who comes in.

In February 2011 Ted Gregory of The Chicago Tribune did a story on independent booksellers:

In fact, the survival of the independent bookstore may reflect a changing consumer mindset and serve as a metaphor for what it takes to succeed today in business, important considerations as the country limps out of its worst economic recession in 70 years.

"They got through their own valley of death," said Scott Lubeck, executive director of the Book Industry Study Group, a trade association based in New York City.

Lubeck, like other experts, said the number of independents that disappeared in the last 20 years included many hobbyists. But the decline has "absolutely" leveled off in recent years, he said.

"I see many, many independent booksellers," Lubeck said, "and I think they're going to continue to thrive. There's no question about it: The bookstore is still the most powerful instrument to connect a reader with a book."

I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to ordering from Amazon and other online sellers.  It's just convenient and cheap.  But I also make it a point to visit the indies whenever I can and support them.  I bought something from The Book Merchant nearly every single time I visited just to show support.  My meager purchases alone would never have been enough to keep him in business, but it was something.  Ditto with The Raven.  It's important to support these local businesses.   Plus, at The Book Merchant I always had the added benefit of petting one of the shop cats (when he wasn't asleep in the window).

The website Indie Bound points out the advantages of buying local which includes benefits to the economy, the environment and the community.

To find an independent bookshop near you, go here.

Looking through the glass door into the empty Book Merchant store brought to my mind that scene in "You've Got Mail" when Kathleen turned out the lights and locked up the empty shop for the last time, turning the "Open" sign to "Closed" and taking the bell off the door with her as she walked away into the night.

A Crisis of Technology

I was probably one of the last people on the planet to get a cell phone.  I got my first Nokia flip phone about five or six years ago.  It's amazing how quickly we become dependent, isn't it?

I had a few free minutes yesterday afternoon and decided it was a good opportunity to install the latest updates to my iPhone.  Honestly, where it actually started was I saw someone's review of the WhipCast app and decided I needed to download that.  When I tried to, my phone told me I had to have iOS5 installed.  And so it goes.


Then my computer went to blue screen and had to be restored.

Then I had to reinstall iTunes.

And then my when I finally got back to updating the phone (a couple of hours later) iTunes insisted the phone had to be restored to factory settings.  Nothing else I tried could make this not happen.

I lost everything.  Or most everything.  52 (out of 400) pictures were saved.  The apps were all still on iTunes but had to be dragged back to the phone.  All my phone numbers and contacts are gone.  I've had to set all my apps up again, put in passwords, user names, and updates.

The end of this story is that I've spend now about six hours updating, reinstalling, and backing up stuff.  Everything is now backed up and double backed up.  I have recovered a few of my contacts but if I had your number, it's a safe bet I don't have it anymore.  Feel free to email me if you think I should have it.

Needless to say, I haven't monitored the news today or yesterday.

We're watching the Cubs, I'm monitoring The Masters, and we're going to eat Easter dinner.  I'll resume blog life here shortly.

Oh, and I did finally download WhipCast.  I hope it's worth it.

Testing

Just checking to see if I can still post via mobile. I updated my phone and iTunes decided to restore to factory settings. Lost everything! Bleh.

Sent from my iPhone

Take a Good Friday Trip to Natchitoches

What to do on a beautiful spring Friday when you're off work?  Why, pull the top down on the Jeep and head on down to Natchitoches for the afternoon, what else?

We took the long way, down highway 71, past the Lock and Dam, stopped in Coushatta for a quick lunch at Bailey's...

...and then turned off 71 at Campti and headed in to Natchitoches about 2:00.

We parked the Jeep down by the river and walked the rest of the day.

The river is much improved over our visit last summer when it was so low.

This guy across the river was enjoying the mild, sunny day:

The water is up and the major landscaping work that has been in progress around Roque House is now complete.

I love Roque House:

And the landscaping they've done behind it is beautiful.  It's quickly becoming a prime spot for weddings.

The beds around Roque House are beautiful:

We wandered on up Front Street and stopped in Kaffie Frederick (the oldest store in the state of Louisiana!):

We wandered around in there for a while, then left, then hit a few more shops along Front Street as we headed toward The Book Merchant, only to find THIS:

We went from THIS:

...to THAT.    I was heartbroken.  I've always counted on J. Michael to turn me on to new local authors and now it's gone.  The Book Merchant was an anchor on Front Street with always an open door and a friendly smile for everyone who came in.  I'll miss that store, J. Michael and the shop cats.  What a real loss that is.

To ease our woes we went on down to The Pioneer Pub which has, without a doubt, the best food in town.

 I mean, I love Lasyones, I do.  For plate lunches and meat pies it is wonderful!  And I hear their breakfast is great.  But I just can't go to Natchitoches without parking myself at the bar at The Pub and staying for a while.  Let me digress for a moment and reiterate that I HATE the hulking monstrosity that is going to be the new Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame which is hulking over the historic district with no attempt to fit into the architectural period at all:

Hideous.

Anyway, you meet the most interesting people in The Pub and the atmosphere is just right up my alley.

You can sit at tables and observe the tourists and traffic from the huge front window;  there are almost always fresh flowers on each table:

Or you can sit at the bar and watch either of the two huge televisions:

This fellow is new since our last visit:

We started out with fried alligator bites which were the best I've ever had: very tender and the breading and seasoning was just perfect.  Crispy on the outside and the meat was hot; they were served with a remoulade sauce.

There were several locals at the bar with us and owner Howard was sitting with us watching The Masters on T.V.  Steve and Howard talked about skiing out west.  Bartender Morgan kept the atmosphere fun - she seems to be a girl who really loves her work.  I don't think she ever quit laughing or smiling the whole three hours we were there:

We ended up both eating steaks for dinner (which were awesome) and I ordered a pizza (all fresh and homemade) to bring home for The Teenager.

We left the top down on the Jeep for the drive home; it was about 68 degrees and a little chilly but it was wonderful.  Steve saw a shooting star (while he SHOULD have been watching the road).  We came back via I49 (which I hate, but it was getting late) and saw a little coyote thinking about crossing the road.

We also got hit by a rock which dinged my new Jeep's windshield and required a trip to Glass Masters first thing this morning.  I guess the Jeep is initiated now.  Got its first battle scar.  I can quit worrying about that now.

It was a great day and a great start to the weekend.  We're laying low today and celebrating Easter tomorrow.

Have a good weekend!


Related - More from the Take a Trip Series:


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

Michael Grady is Alive and Well in North Louisiana

This one is for the locals...

Back in 2010 I posted a link to Michael Grady's CD "Nona Mae"; Grady still has a lot of fans around here and many wrote or emailed me to ask where he was and what he was up to.

In response to that I'm here to report that Grady is alive and well in North Louisiana and has just returned from a week long gig in Mexico.  He tells me he's working with Dino Zimmerman again on...wait for it...a CD of 40s music!

What a kick!  Can't wait for that!

I would love to see Grady perform at the Highland Jazz & Blues Fest.

Can we make it happen?




(See most recent Mike Grady updates here)

When "On Your Own" Meant Freedom and Liberty

I've been stewing over this Obama speech since last Friday.  Did you see (or hear) this?



In a speech in Vermont, The Great Uniter takes a sharply partisan turn toward Republicans.  He sounds defensive, doesn't he?  Is he worried about something?

This is the part that just slays me:

"You know, if you're out of work, can't find a job, tough luck; you're on your own. If you don't have healthcare, that's your problem; you're on your own. If you're born into poverty, lift yourself up out of your own -- with your own bootstraps, even if you don't have boots; you're on your own," Obama said in remarks before a cheering crowd in Burlington, Vt. "Hey, they believe that's how America has advanced. That's the cramped, narrow conception they have of liberty."

Wow.  Just wow.  Clearly the man has no concept of economics or of what made America great.  We did not become the greatest country in the world by cradle to grave handouts or by massive expansion of the welfare state.  Obamacare alone created yet another massive entitlement system on top of the expansion of food stamps and extensions of unemployment benefits Obama has enacted.

Republicans do not believe "you're on your own."   I'd like to see his research on conservative charitable giving.  Healthcare?  Charity hospitals and clinics abound throughout the United States.

This is the part that got me: the insinuation that if you're born into poverty the only way you can get out is by some government handout.  Think of all the people born into poverty through the decades, since the beginning of America even, who had nothing yet worked hard, studied hard, and found a way to succeed.  THAT'S what makes America great is that the opportunity is there; the grit and determination of the individual to make something of himself makes the difference.

What pride is there in doing nothing but taking government handouts?

Obama mocks the way that America has advanced?  He says we have a "narrow conception...of liberty"?

Liberty is when the government leaves us alone; when it does the job the founders enumerated and no more.

Later in the day Obama said in another speech:

"I hear politicians talking about values in an election year," he said. "Let me tell you about values. Hard work, personal responsibility -- those are values. But looking out for one another, that's a value. The idea we're all in this together, I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper, that's a value."

He is confusing the idea of "looking out for one another" with unconstitutional mandates and government handouts. He's confusing it with cradle to grave handouts and entitlements.  He's confusing it with creating a society dependent on the federal government for its every need and whim while wrecking innovation and small business.   Let churches, neighbors, and families look out for one another.    


If Obama is truly his "brother's keeper," somebody ought to give him the number to his brother's hut in Kenya and maybe he'll leave me alone and let me worry about my own brother.


I agree with him on one thing.  Of the upcoming election, Obama said:

"I think it's going to be a clarifying election about who we are and what we stand for."

He's got that right.

Alert Al Franken: Individual Liberty is a GOOD Thing

One of the biggest lies we were told during the Obamacare debate was reiterated by Obama himself over and over and over again:

"If you like your doctor or health care plan, you can keep it..."

As it turns out ... wait for it.... it's not necessarily true.  Shock!  Anyone with a grain of sense knew all along that wasn't going to be true.

Via The Foundry:

Four reputable research institutions have run the numbers and found that not only is Obama’s claim false, but employees will be dropped from their current coverage by the millions. This week’s chart outlines each of the four studies.

Here's their chart:

Somebody should alert Al Franken.  This blurb showed up on my Facebook sidebar today:

Now, that's not misleading at all, right?  Republicans think your employer should decide?  As opposed to what, say....the federal government?  I certainly have a lot more options about my own health care decisions pre-Obamacare as I'm going to have when he gets done with me.  Not to mention the unintended consequences of Obamacare such as employers keeping workers at under 40 hours a week so they don't have to provide health care for them or even worse, not hiring at all.

The majority of Americans want the law over turned.

We can't stand four more years.

Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana

Eager to get some more bug guts on the front of the new Jeep, Steve and I took off on a day trip to Logansport, Louisiana today.  We've never been on a day trip there and thought it might be interesting.

Logansport is an historic town (founded in 1830) nestled on the border between Louisiana and Texas.  At one time it was a bustling little town with the lumber and cotton business and the river boats steaming through.  The Sabine River marks the border and they've got a nice park there on the river and a Veteran's memorial wall.  The town holds festivals and celebrations there including the popular River City fest in May.

Before we set out on our adventure I hit up FIVE estate sales this morning.  I found a couple of glassware things to add to my collection but the real treasure, to me, was this cool book of WWII stories by Associated Press reporters; it was published in 1945 and has a section of full page black and white photos.

Here's part of the table of contents:

The best part?  I got it for $1.00.

I also found this little treasure for Mr. SIGIS:

Also $1.00.

So on to Logansport.  We like to take the back roads whenever we go anywhere.  We stopped in Keatchie when we saw an antique store.  I liked this sign:

All your needs are covered there, right?  The people in that store were really friendly and they had a beautiful pointer dog behind the counter.  Across the street was this neat old building (I love old historic buildings):

I like the tree growing out from under the front porch.  The place was apparently a mercantile store at one time:

I like the front porch, too:

So from there we headed on down the road to Logansport.  There's not a lot there anymore but everyone we met and dealt with could not have been friendlier.  The Georgia Pacific plant there has closed and the economy is hurting down there; plus they're widening a nearby highway which will bypass the town and just about shut everything down, I guess.

We stopped at ate at The River's Edge restaurant, run by Rosemary Grimsley.  We went there on the advice of Janet Palmer who runs N. J. Carraway & Co. hardware and mercantile store.

Steve had fried catfish and I have a big ol' bacon cheeseburger.  Both were great.  Rosemary could not have been more friendly or hospitable and I only wish we had gone after 5 p.m. when you get complimentary hot water cornbread and bean soup with every entree!  Everything is home made there; the hush puppies that came with Steve's catfish were the best I've ever had; they were the size of golf balls and seasoned with jalapeno and onion.

We stopped in at Doug's Jewelry & Antiques on Main Street; he had some cool military collectibles and some cool clocks.  Lots of military books and flags.  A few political signs:

I bought a book there and we went on down to N. J. Carraway & Co.

It's the oldest operating hardware store in Desoto Parish:

There you can buy everything from blue jeans, bib overalls, scented candles, antiques, and all your hardware needs.

They had a neat sign inside, too:

We bought a couple of cookbooks that proprietor Janet Palmer showed us: The Louisiana Proud Collection of Home Cooking and The Louisiana Proud Collection of Sweet Things.   Each consists of over 200 recipes and drawings from all over the state.  The author  crisscrossed the state taking photographs and making sketches of historic buildings in every town and in each town he obtained a recipe. From the forward:

"Two hundred and seventy six people, all from different towns, gave us a recipe.  Each page contains one recipe, an illustration of a building in that town and the contributor's name."

Here's an example (one which Stacy McCain might like):

We heard there was an antique mall in Tenaha so we ran on down the highway but we missed it; they closed thirty minutes before we arrived.  Steve liked this mural, though:

With everything shutting down for the day we headed on back to Shreveport.  Just outside of Carthage Steve pulled over at the Jim Reeves memorial:

The walkway leading up to it is neat:

All in all it was a fun day.  As I said, the people in Logansport could not have been nicer or more friendly.  It's definitely going into our rotation of day trips.  We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful drive down the back roads, looking at the historic homes and buildings, and partaking of the local hospitality.

My Summer Project

Having no pride whatsoever I just dug this poor thing out of my neighbor's trash pile.  I believe it's an antique telephone stand.

It's flat on the floor here because the legs need some work and it won't stand on its own:

Actually, a lot of it needs work, but it will be glorious when it's restored!

The door has some warp to it, and the veneer is peeling...:

...but I love the detail on it.  Inside there is a hole in the back left corner, presumably for the telephone wire to run through.

There's a hinged door, too, that works fine but the bottom piece for the storage area is gone and will have to be replaced:

There's some rot on the ball feet and I'll have to cut the legs off just a little so it will stand.

It looks like hell right now but this summer, when school is out, I'll have some time to work on it.

I love a new project!