Scott mardi gras parade

Yesterday was our first parade. We left here in convoy at 10am to try and get a good spot. Our guide Lorie said we needed to get there early to get a good parking spot and standing spot. The parade starts at 1 pm. When we got close, my gps said we were 7/10 of a mile from our destination…..we had to pull over and park on the side of the road. After unloading camera’s, chairs, coolers and signs we walked the rest of the way. People parked everywhere along the way waiting for the parade……the people way up front got there at 6am.

We had a good spot, a tight turn where the floats have to slow down and settled in to wait. There was a McDonalds across the main highway and a Church’s chicken….and a porta potti just across the street….so we were all set.

Finally 1 pm got here and the parade started.

(you can click on any picture to enlarge it)

the signs the people color guardgrand marshalqueen

 

The parade lasted about an hour and we all got lots of beads, these are just some of them.

I had a couple of the men lift our bag of beads and I can tell you that we have about 40 pounds of beads…….they sure were getting heavy wearing them and were a real pain to get off of our necks…I must be slipping thou, as I only got one pair of panties, I am wearing them on my had, they are yellow.

Here are all of the beads and things we got at this one parade. The table is 42 inches in diameter.

We had a wonderful day, but the wind was blowing very very hard all day. We made it back in time for happy hour, and after that everyone crashed for the night….

Two more days of parades planed for us. One day in Lafayette and the other at a farm area that Betty say’s is the best.

Have a great week at work….we will take care of the partying  for you. You know it is a tough job, but we have been up to it for these past years, so you are in good hands

we love ya

Jim and Linda

Mr. Charlie

Yesterday we drove to Morgan City to see the oil drilling platform Mr. Charlie. It is the original off shore platform built around 1957 and now used as a training facility.

http://www.rigmuseum.com

The man who did the tour was a very good speaker and has 42 years experience in the oil field. It was one of the best tours we have done, very informative.

The rig sleeps 48 people and the people in training stay on the rig so they can get used to being isolated and have hands on experience on doing the things that they are being trained to do.

This is where the pipe goes thru the platform, the round area spins and turns the pipe to which the bit is attached to.

The guide told us that if they have problems with the bits, like maybe a few teeth break off. they have to bring all of the pipe back up and send down magnets and grapplers to try and find the broken teeth before that can continue drilling. It can take up to 2 or more days sometimes to find them at a cost of about $12,000,000 a day. Yes that is twelve million dollars!!!!!

After the tour we went out for lunch……wait, that does not surprise you does it…….a very neat little restaurant in a house….excellent local food. I had pot roast, Linda had what she says is the best crab cakes she has ever eaten, we even bought an extra one to bring home for her to cook.

As we were leaving town, we went by this old shrimper boat sitting in the median.

Have a wonderful day

we love you all

Jim and Linda

TOUR OF ABBEVILLE

Yesterday we did a guided tour of Abbeville.  First off was the blacksmith shop that was built around 1911 and stayed in business until 2004, under the same family. When the founder died the family donated the shop with all of its equipment to the city. They moved it about a block and some times have a blacksmith working there.

Originally the line shaft was run by a model T engine, but when the model A Ford came out they switched to the more powerful engine. There was very little electricity in Abbeville in the early days.

The line shaft is the main pulley shaft that all of the belts run off of to power the machinery. When they wanted to use a piece of equipment the just put the belt onto the line shaft pulley.

From the blacksmith shop it was a couple of blocks walk to the catholic church. This is the 4th church on the site and it was built in 1911 and underwent a major restoration in 2009. I am putting lots of the pictures and you can click on them to see larger images.

The live oaks are in one of the two town squares.

The stained glass windows were just beautiful and I am guessing that there are about 20 of them, they stand about 15 foot tall.

Outside was the cemetery

bet the flowers are not blooming up north……..

There are lots of neat buildings in town, but most have lots of power lines obstructing  the view.

After the tour we had lunch at a local restaurant, nothing fancy here. Than we took a drive down to Palmetto Island state park, which is a new state park and very very well done. Here are a couple of pictures of the roadside swamp before getting into the park and a few taken along the river in the park

armadillo

When we went to the wood guys house Betty picked up a piece of cedar wood and she wanted to make a bench out of it. I told her I would help her with it and after looking in her shed we found two more pieces of old wood that I was able to use for the legs and center brace.

And, finally, at happy hour more craziness

Have a great day, and remember that  we love ya

Jim and Linda