IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

This announcement is for all of our fellow blog readers except Relk:

We have changed the preferences about comments being posted. You no longer have to have a gmail account. If you would like to leave us a comment (which you should do, it is how we assess how faithful of a reader you are.... Relk, you are currently winning) all you have to do is click on "comment", write your comment, sign your name at the end of the comment (don't forget this part!), and then click "post as anonymous" 

You do not have any excuse for not responding. We want to hear from each and every one of you.

This is your last chance.

We love you Relk. You will be receiving a special something from us shortly.

Love,

Casey and Lindsay

Louisiana Eats/ The Bible Belt

Casey and I had our first real Louisiana eating experience last night.... well, Casey did.... I am not that adventurous.

Let me give you the breakdown of his meal:

First course- Seafood gumbo, served with a scoop of rice to soak up the juices and mustardy potato salad.

Second course- (this is where you are going to be impressed) 1/2 dozen shrimp each cooked inside an oyster shell, covered with a mushroom cream sauce and then slathered in melted cheese. Take a look at the close up. 

Desert: A half-cooked brownie, surrounded by brownie goop and topped off with vanilla ice cream (this was my meal.... very tasty)

And, of course, beverage: Two large margaritas, with salt.

While we were in the restaurant we started a conversation with a fellow diner (or rather were forced into conversation after being attacked by her young son) who proceeded to tell us about the Mardi Gras tradition. Apparently the main event is a chicken chase, which some people choose to do on horseback. When you catch a chicken you kill it, skin it, and put it in the gumbo (there ends up being quite a lot of gumbo). Oh, and everybody gets completely wasted. Schools let out for three days and everybody parties and listens to cajun music. Much different from our one-night event up north.

The woman then gave us her phone number and told us to call her, but we left it in the car and the dogs ate it.

We probably wouldn't have called anyway.... 

Oh, but one other thing she told us was that we were in the Bible Belt.

As if we hadn't noticed. Check out the pictures I took of a rack in a local bookstore.... this is the real deal.

The Drilling

This afternoon was Casey's big-time dentist appointment. After weeks of not sleeping through the night because of intense tooth pain, he finally caved and agreed to go to a dentist that was not his trusty Oregon dentist (Katie).

So I made a couple of calls and found a dentist who would see him right away. The next day, as it turned out. Apparently there is not a high demand for dental work in Louisiana. 

So we arrived early for our appointment, only to find that the incredibly nice, very ancient desk lady had not taken note of our appointment, but never fear, the dentist would see us anyway.

Bad start.

About 45 minutes later Casey came out and announced that he needed a filling and a root canal and they would like to do it right now.

"Like now... now.... really?"

"Yes"

Hummmm.... that was 2 1/2 hours ago and I am still waiting outside in the van (I haven't bothered to learn to drive the van yet...) Hopefully he is okay in there. I am starting to worry. So is Egg. The picture below is what Egg looks like when he is worried. Bird is optimistic though. She is singing. Maybe I should go check on him.....

Okay. Turns out everything is fine and my wonderful husband was returned to me in one piece. He was even smiling, although this may have been because he got a prescription for some heavy pain killers. Either way, everything is okay and life can go back to normal.

Maybe we will go shopping for baby clothes to celebrate. Or just eat seafood gumbo and drink wine (not me of course)

Love you.

Riding the Impulse Train

We have done it again. But there is an excuse.... there is always an excuse.

This time it was because of a great sale.

Here is what happened: Yesterday morning I woke up and within seconds of getting dressed, I managed to rip my pants. These pants were a rather important part of my wardrobe, seeing that they consisted of exactly 50% of my available pants (due to the fact that I have gained more than a little weight lately)

This was a problem.

But never fear, we are in Lake Charles and Lake Charles has everything, including several clothing stores. So we ventured out to shop. That is where the trouble began.

We located a decent pair of pants for me at Old Navy. They had been marked down from 35 dollars to 7, so I decided to really splurge and buy them. On the way to the counter we ran into The Coolest Baby Hoodie In The World (notice that it has bikes on it... Mom, we were thinking about you), which was also on sale for 7 dollars, so we got that too.

"Its just seven dollars, no big deal..."

But when we got to the counter, the lady told us that we owed 7 dollars which, I calculated after a little brow-crinkling math, was only half of what we should have owed.

"We are having a sale, 50% off the original sale price."

That was it.

We were doomed to impulse buying.

Again.

But on the up side, we got the baby more hoodies than he will ever need, a summer hat, a comfy warm thing for next winter, and an aardvark.

Because do you know any kid without an aardvark?

I didn't think so.

Lets just hope that we will still be able to move around in the van, through the mass of baby clothes, by the time we get to the east coast.

Holy Alligator!

We have nothing but great news for this blog. Check out some of the highlights:

1. Louisiana is the home of the best Walmart in the country: there is a barbeque restaurant in the parking lot (and its a good one too...), not to mention a pet store and a Starbucks... an Olive Garden across the street and the best little coffee shop in the universe with AMAZING egg sandwiches. We may have just found home.

2. Duke is kicking a$$. For those of you that are not interested in college basketball, you have just one month left to get involved before the beginning of March Madness. Its going to be good this year.

3. We have found a dentist, Casey may actually get his teeth fixed... stay tuned, the drilling will be on the next blog.

4. There is a Gander Mountain here. I don't understand why this is great, but apparently it is.

5. This is the only area of the country that is not experiencing freak bad weather right now... it is 70 and sunny... we will try to share the rays.

6. There are alligators here. Real, live alligators and they would be really scary if they weren't incredibly small. Looks like we are going to have to wait for Florida for the big ones.

but MOST IMPORTANTLY....

7. COLLEEN IS HAVING HER BABY RIGHT NOW!!!!! Everybody take a minute to send her good, calming energy even if you don't know her because she is my best friend and the coolest person in the world. 

Home-Style Texas Birding

We have finally had one too many encounters with crazy people in our Walmart parking lot. Today, we had a guy ride up on a bike and invite us to go to breakfast at the homeless shelter with him. We passed. 

It is time to move on and out of Texas.

But first, we made one last stop at Texas's Sabine National Wildlife Refuge to do a little birding. Well, it was supposed to be a little birding, but Casey soon became obsessed with finding an owl and we ended up spending quite a while stalking around in the woods until eventually...

VICTORY!

A beautiful great horned owl.

He was very happy (Casey)

The owl just looked annoyed.

See you in the bayou!

 

Fairwell and Ferries

Here are some of the pictures from us leaving Galveston that I forgot to include with the last blog entry. The best one is the one of Egg... if you look closely through the rear window, you can see the seagulls that were following our ferry. The last two I threw on there for fun, a good belly shot and a me eating my dinner in the van.

Revisions for the blog entry Wormy Poop and Walmart

It has come to our attention that the list of reasons why sleeping in a Walmart parking lot is a good idea is incomplete. The number one reason, as it turns out, is actually that Walmarts are free of Evil, Mutant, Super-Fast-Breeding Mosquitoes (or at least we have not encountered them there so far)

The reason this has come to our attention has to do with the experience we had last night. Casey and I decided to venture away from the safety of out Galveston Walmart to go explore a new island. The plan was we would arrive, find a camping spot and go to bed, leaving the exploration of the island for the morning. 

Everything was going fine for the first 35 seconds after our arrival: Casey was letting the dogs out and I was preparing the van for nighttime. That was when I noticed that there was a mosquito in the van.... I hadn't seen a bug for months.... but wait, there was another, and another,

This was not good.

"Casey, close the door, quick"

But it was too late. Within that very small time interval 14,306 mosquitoes had funneled into our van and made themselves at home. We spent the next two hours in a blood bath, killing sometimes 14 in a minutes time and saying encouraging things to each other like "hey, that was a great backhand"

However, we did not get them all.

Then to make matters worse, it started to pour and apparently our van was the only mosquito shelter for miles because they came in through the cracks in the side of the van all night long.

We did not sleep.

There are still mosquitoes in the van. Casey thinks they might be breeding.

We are back at Walmart, itching.

Hope you are all well.

Life on the Beach

Today we decided to go do something really special for the dogs, due to the fact that all day yesterday they were sick from their deworming medication. 

So we went to the beach, which we do everyday, but this time we let them run off leash, which we also do everyday, except this time Egg got to run too, which we never do.

This wasn't exactly the original plan (he ripped the leash out of my hand and dove into the ocean), but it ended up working out anyway. After the were all tired out, Casey and I went birding and saw spoonbills, shrikes, osprey, sandhill cranes, and every kind of egret and heron imaginable. 

Now we are sitting at the laundromat because, after the worm incident of yesterday, we have decided that it would be best to wash all the bedding (remember purples vanagon princess picture from a couple of days ago.... yeah) 

And I have included another belly shot for you, Lacey  (I am not intentionally trying to look like a moody rock star, it just came out that way)

there will be more to come.

Love you.

Wormy Poop and Walmart

So, for those of you that don't already know, Casey and I have pretty much found our home away from home in Supercenter Walmart parking lots.

"Walmart"... you say "Walmart is not a good place to camp" 

thats what you think.... but it is, really

and here is why:

1. it is legal, so you don't have to worry about those pesky 6am window tappings from various authority figures, letting you know that sleeping wherever you are does not even approach legal.

2. getting milk for cereal in the morning has never been easier, not to mention anything else you might need, such as a bathroom, water for the dogs, chocolate covered donuts, or baby clothes.

3. there is a 24 hour security guard that patrols the whole parking lot, which I find reassuring 

4. you don't ever have to drive around searching for a decent, inexpensive campground when it is 3am and you have been on the road for 12 hours and YOU JUST WANT TO GO TO SLEEP DAMMIT

5. the whole parking lot is covered with cameras so occasionally you get to make some security guard laugh when they see you on tape picking up dog poop very carefully for internal parasite sampling

.... which brings me to our next topic: 

my dog has a tapeworm.

gross.

so we called the local vet and they said they would be happy to give her some medication but they needed a poop sample in order to dispense it. "I can see the worm segments.... you really want me to bring you a sample"

Yes, no questions asked.

So we go back to the Walamrt, locate that mornings droppings, roll back our sleeves and.... wait.... I do that part, Casey takes pictures and laughs at me.

Supportive husband.

But we did get the medication and now our dogs are back to being pictures of health. Off to the beach. 

Sending love and 70 degree sunny days your way.

Go Patriots.... I Mean Packers!

Still in Galveston....

Today we have decided to take a break from our typical crunchy granola hippie daily routine of hiking, birding, and bathing in gas stations to watch football....

.....all day.....

(Back to back Patriots and Packers games have kept us at the bar for the last five hours and we are still here)

This is what I have to report: The Pats are going to win it... definitely... I can say this freely in the blog because Casey is totally wasted and no longer has any idea that I am sitting next to him typing. 

It is going to be a hard letdown. Hopefully, he will recover quickly.... that is if Greenbay pulls off this game. It is looking pretty close. I better go so I can focus (as my mother would say)... due to my competitive spirit I would like to see Greenbay limp into the finals.

The Patriots will be ready for the slaughter....

A Word from Galveston

Ahhh..... the ocean.... what a beautiful sight after weeks of desert. And the birding here is great (enthusiasts (Carla), please note the White Ibis- photo number two)

We have spent much of the last few days walking on the beach, exploring the town, and impulse-buying more baby clothes when we go into the Walmart to use the bathroom in the mornings.... or wait, thats just Casey... while I am in the bathroom. 

"but he needs to be stylish.... I will be taking him to Saturday market" 

and I don't complain.

Oh, I think I forgot to tell you... every one of you is being ordered to go see Juno (its in the theaters right now) 

Go see it.... really.... go now.....

Colleen.... I am not kidding.... go 

Love you all