The extent of stupid ….
Ugh, it is so irritating how reliant people are to their phones at the cost of any type of spatial awareness. Today at Starbucks I had to say, excuse me, to a woman just standing in front of the cafe doors after we got our coffee. She was just standing there looking at her phone. Now how important was it for her to be reading whatever it was that she was reading? I’m assuming if it was life or death, she shouldn’t be at Starbucks in the first place.

It’s been a busy 2013. I have also been sick twice this year already.  Flu season has been the worse for me and quite a few people I know also.
The best thing has been hearing about different cure-alls.
Squire told me he heard that drinking a beer is good for the phlegm.
Here are some of the others that I’ve heard too:
For night time coughs, squeeze a lemon and add a scoop of honey, heat and drink before bed.
Another variation, add some water and whisky.
Vicks vapo-rub on the chest and below the nose.
Scarves and stay away from a/c.
Massages.
Lemon and li hing is also a favorite.

Just the ones off the top of my head.

I only remember having one (the one about the human body) but I found nine at a thrift store today and had to buy them. Be prepared to be wowed by some random trivia and facts from my nine new classic books (in no particular order).

About 300 years ago, some European women wore shoes with platforms up to 30 inches high!

How is a spacecraft steered?
This is usually done by turning the main rockets that are at the bottom of the spacecraft. To turn the spaceship just a little, special small rockets on the sides are fired.

Doctors use stethoscopes to listen to lungs, intestines, arteries, and veins as well as hearts.

What is the fastest animal?
The fastest of all animals is a bird called the swift. The spine-tailed swift can fly at a speed of more than 100 miles an hour. (The fastest land animal is the cheetah. It can run at more than 60 miles an hour.

(In the 80’s) Instead of celebrating their real birthdays, all people in the country of Bhutan become a year older on New Year’s Day!

What does the word “schooner” mean?
The name “schooner” comes from a game that was popular when the schooner was first designed in 1713. Young boys used to throw flat stones in the bay and watch them skip along. They called this game “scooning.” (“Scoon” is a Scottish word for “glide.”) People say that when one of the new sailing boats first appeared, someone shouted, “See how she scoons!”

Why is the egg an Easter symbol?
In many of the world’s cultures the egg stands for new life. An egg looks like a stone or a rock. But it is from an egg that new life bursts forth. The egg is a reminder for Christians of the resurrection of Jesus.

How did dinosaurs get such strange names?
The long, hard-to-pronounce names of dinosaurs all come from Greek words. Greek and Latin are the two languages the earliest scientists used. When modern scientists discover an animal or plant, they still give it a Greek or Latin name. When dinosaurs were discovered, scientists gave them Greek names that described what each dinosaur was like.

And those are my new books! Thank you “Charlie Brown’s Encylopedias” for the memories and the new bits of info that I didn’t know before.

So this has been the easy part of the leg so far. I would say that the beginning was pretty easy in California because we were also staying with family but because we had a pending cross country road trip at that point we were antsy to get started. In Louisiana, we were visiting with my brother-in-law, Cameron’s sister, Courtney. She lives in Mandeville, across the Causeway from N’awlins.

We got in at a relatively early hour on Wednesday. Probably about 8 at night. Cameron definitely had an agenda in Louisiana though, he wanted to eat and see as many things “Swamp People” related.

The food has definitely been a treat. I’ve tried beignets, po’boys, gumbo, jambalaya, lots of oysters-both fried and grilled, and some apple-flavored moonshine. I also tried some sushi and ahi, both of which didn’t compare to what I can find in Hawaii, but not bad at all.

I never watched “Swamp People” before but saw a few episodes while we’ve been here. It is fun and the people are very interesting and impressive. We also got to go to Kleibert’s Alligator and Turtle Farm. That was neat because we got to meet the Kleiberts that were on the first season of Swamp People. They were fun and definitely helped dispell some myths.

I was able to add to my animal petting list; snakes, tigers, alligators, elephants, and monkeys. I think I may be missing something but that’s okay. I’m still working on it.