HOW DAT, Y’ALL?

How y’all like the way dem Saints tamed dem Colts last night?

And I just have to say this:

Dem Saints ain’t no ain’ts no mo!!!!

As I said before, I’m not a football-watching fool, but the Saints playing a Super Bowl game was history-in-the-making, so I had to be part of that.

And here’s how we partied . . .

I dried and fried the wings.  First batch became buffalo style . . .

second batch became honey barbecue.  Mmmm finger-licking good.

And then there was crab dip and shrimp dip and Ruffles!!!  Of course, we had some healthy appetizers to offset all the unhealthy party foods!

And then Danno got down to some serious grilling out on his little patio.  The anticipation was building for both food and the game at this point!

He grilled two kinds of sausage made by a local market . . . green onion and jalapeno.  Tasty stuff.

Then he handed off to me, and I grilled the onion burgers.

Then he went long and finished up the barbecued chicken breasts.

They sent me back in on the steak play, where I  seared these really quick.

After our pigskins were stretched to the limit, it was GAME ON!

There they were.  The three brothers (poor Daboo was stuck on the boat), anticipating the first Saints score.  By this time, the Colts had galloped all over the Saints, leaving a hoof print here and there, but not for long . . .

TOUCHDOWN, SAINTS!!!!!

SAINTS SCORE AGAIN!!!!!!

Looking good for the Who Dat Nation!

GAME OVER!!!!

WHO DAT GROUP HUG!!!  Nothing like a great football game for male bonding and brotherly love, right?

There is no photo of the winning score screen shot because the boys were too busy jumping up and down in front of the TV.  And I was too busy watching them and laughing with them!  Amazing!

And one last time.  Saint’s ARE number one, y’all.  It only took 43 years of team history, and 44 years of Super Bowl history for this to happen.  And even though I’m not a football fan, I can say it was worth the wait!

As we walked outside, there were more fireworks than New Year’s Eve, horns honking, cow bells clanging, people yelling and screaming.  I’ve never heard anything like it!

And now the new slogan should be “HOW DAT?”

Pretty dog-gone good, dat’s how.

BW

PS:  We had to share Dotter and MuzicMan with his family the second half.  Wish they would have been able to stay!  It was CRAZY fun!!!!

PPS:  We overslept today, AND the school bus never showed up!  I had to drive the boys (under protest) to school . . 22 miles away!  I guess all the other kids got a free day off.  Must have been some party last night!

Who dat say who scat?

Yes, yes, I know that is a very, very strange blog post title.  But you see, there is never an uninteresting dull moment or walk in the yard down the bayou.

The other day, while watching the builders build, I took a little stroll around the yard looking here and there with my trusty Nikon hanging off my shoulder.

And honestly, I never know what I might stumble upon, and I’m never disappointed.

Of course, these didn’t happen here by accident . . .

And you flower lovers know these are commonly called Narcissus . . . genus name.  Do you know the story of how these flowers came to be called Narcissus?  It has to do with that Greek guy that was in love with his own reflection . . . so much so that he starved to death staring at himself in a pond.  Anyway, these are some that I naturalized in the yard, and am continually amazed at their resilience to saltwater intrusion.  This particular sampling of sweet aroma and pretty yellow centers is called Paper Whites.

Honestly, I hung around in that area of the yard for a while, looking down, with great concentration, hoping a four-leaf clover would find me.  My diligence never paid off in the form of the rare occurrence . . . but this is what did find me . . .

and had me puzzled for a quite a while.  Whose scat is this?  For sure, it was left by neither TiDu or Butch.  It is not rabbit scat, because BW knows her rabbit poo.  It’s not raccoon poo, because there are no seeds in it.  BW knows her coon poo too (LOL!)  It’s not rooster dookey or hen dookey, to be sure.  But what it does look very much like is deer scat.  What would make that so special, you might ask?  The location, that’s what.  This was in my front yard, which faces the highway and the bayou.  We have never seen a deer in the front yard.  We have seen their hoof prints way on the back of our 3 acres, but never this close to the house.  So, BW is calling all SCAT EXPERTS to chime in on this post and solve the WHO SCAT? mystery for us all.  Now, just don’t go do a Google search.  I did that already.  I want real verification from a real expert.

And then a truck arrived from the lumber yard with a special delivery.  I walked out back to chat with him and to see that he was dropping off some more nails so Carlos could finish nailing up the hurricane straps.  And then with great flair, he whipped something out of his pocket that nearly made my teeth fall out.  I mean, if they had been false, I would have surely dropped my chompers.

“Bet you haven’t seen one of THESE!” he said with great pride.

Boy was he right, and I may never see one again.  He proceeded to gloat, bragging, “And I didn’t pay $800 for it, either!”

ME:  “Wow, really?  How in the world did you get a discount?”

HIM, laughing:  “Oh, no,  honey.  You misunderstood me.  I never said I got a discount.  I paid  $2024.00 for this baby.”

And then I fainted dead away.

I’m revived now, because Dotter took me to New Orleans to eat Lebanese food, which I am in love with, and to see a musical.  We somehow managed to escape Mardi Gras Parade Madness, but we did not escape the Black and Gold.  Did you know people in New Orleans actually own and wear black and gold formal wear with fleur de lis patterns?

Tell me, all you WHO DATTERS out there . . . where are you watching the game?  Who with?  And what will you wear? What will you eat?  We’re going to barbecue for the game, since we could not find affordable crawfish to boil.  I’m attempting my first ever homemade chicken wings.  We’ll see how that goes.  Maybe I’ll post up some pics on Monday.

Who dat?

BW, dat’s who.

Hybrid House, Part 2

It’s been slow going because of intermittent days of rain.  But when the weather is good, these guys really get after it!

Here’s where we left off last time, I think . . .

Okay, we need another roof truss next . .

There we go.  The sky track is lifting the last truss up for those guys to weld in place.  Much of the time, metal buildings are bolted together.  We opted for welding everything together for a stronger bond.

The framework is now ready for the purlins.

The purlins, which will frame up the windows and doors are welded on.  The metal panels will be screwed to the purlins next week.

Next, the windows and doors can be put into place .

By the end of that day, with the front door in place, it’s starting to look like a house.

This is my little amigo, Carlos, putting up the hurricane straps.  He doesn’t speak much English, but he loved my chicken and andouille gumbo, and he loved his first ever white beans and fried red fish!

With rain in the forecast, there won’t be much progress made over the next few days.  I can’t wait for more fair weather and more progress.  Patience, BW, patience.

Your waterlogged,

BW