Snowicane

Update: I really thought the snow would be over and I'd be sitting in my office, not home again. Looks like we've got over a foot and it keeps coming down. My parking area and sidewalks have not been plowed since they won't do that until the storm is over. With the winds, there's lot of drifts. Here's some new pics.

Day 1 below

Snowpocalypse, Snowtorious B.I.G., Snowmageddon, and Snowicane are all new snow terms I learned this winter. Last fall, I had a feeling this winter would be bad and purchased 2 pairs of wintry type snow boots. So here I am looking at snow storm part 1 zillion. After taking work home all week, it finally materialized. Mind you the daily weather report this week has been 2 to 4 inches of snow every night. But it never seemed to really happen until today. Of course there's been a battle between the raging snow storm and the above freezing temperatures. The result is a slushy disgusting mess in the parking lot. I'm off the check the mail in my rubber knee boots before the reported hurricane force winds should kick in. Is it spring yet? Time to grab the nearest groundhog and interrogate 'em.

NOLA last chapter

Here's the last chapter of my BR/NOLA trip from last month. Two things I wanted to see on my visit were the plantations and the above-ground graveyards. Neither of those exist back home so I tried to see as much as possible. We cruised some graveyards in NOLA and the clouds and sun were just right to make some cool shots.

The next day we headed out to some plantations. First stop was the Audubon State Historic Site. We were immediately greeted by a tom turkey who took a real fancy to Co. He was in full display mode and was so close I could pet him. He had an entourage of very vocal cats, which I also petted. Alas, we were late for the last tour (I blame it on the turkey and entourage), so we wandered the grounds instead. Below is a pic of the main house.
We decided to head over to the Myrtles plantation to take some pics and walk the grounds. I really didn't need a tour since Co had taken one before and I've watched the ghost hunters episode a few times. We encountered some young girls doing their own ghost hunt at the pond. I even got to see Hester tossing some water (or something out of a pail) out back. Below is a pic of the front of the house.

As Co started the car, all hell broke loose. The interior light started flashing like a strobe light, a bonging noise came on, and a clicking noise was happening behind the radio. This ghost carjacking continued down the driveway but as soon as we were on the road, all was normal. The more logical answer is that the big bump Co had hit in NOLA had begun to jar the permanently shut passenger door so that the "open door" sound and light would sound. No idea about the radio noise. But more about that later.

The potential ghost carjacking wasn't enough to stop us from making a stop at the local graveyard. Dusk was approaching so we scurried around to check out the older graves. We got back into the car and everything seemed normal. But as soon as got on the road, the passenger door, which was stuck in the shut position, suddenly flung wide open. I was riding shotgun at the time so I grabbed the door and we pulled over. I mcgyvered a quick fix with some twine and hung onto the door handle for the 30 minute drive home. Thankfully the twine held the door so that I or car contents weren't tossed out onto the highway at top speed.

For my final day, we took another look at the door. I double tied the passenger door to the car and we headed out to River Road. We aborted any long driving trips thanks to the passenger door situation. We stopped at the Houmas house and got a pricey but worth it tour. Our tour guide was rocking the full petticoat skirt but a fleece jacket on top. That and the only other person on the tour was some sort of idiot. He was one of those people that don't listen and then ask stupid questions. If I had more time and memory, I'd relay the lawn dart death interaction between the tour guide and that guy which almost turned into a "who's on first?"

It goes without saying that the grounds and house were beautiful. The super old live oak was giant and you can barely see me standing at it's base.