Ploughing Through Life
My online "memory bank" Originally from Ripley, West Virginia but currently living in Lafayette, Louisiana
Friday, March 4, 2022
Not Since August…my last post. I’m trying again.
Short Trip in The Van. First time out…
We are off to New Roads, Louisiana..just a little day trip. The van has a big appetite….we will be visiting multiple gas stations any time we take her out.
Fidel built a nice little shelf that fits over the cooler which fits perfectly between the front seats. Our cell phones and iPads ride comfortably there and won’t slide off because of the lip he built around it.
Through fields of newly planted crops, huge farm equipment traveling slowly on the highway. We crossed the Mississippi River and the Morganza Spillway. The road now meanders beside coolies and cypress trees rising from them; cypress knees scattered among the water and livestock in the fields.
A beautiful day for a short trip.The van is humming along. The powerful engine beneath the hood does not strain when we have to pass other vehicles. A six cylinder might be more conservative on gas but this 5.7 liter engine will have no problems tackling the Rocky Mountains should we ever make that trip.
Grain silos now appear among the plowed fields. Maybe rice? A water tower proclaiming Point Coupee and the requisite Church for this small village or maybe just a spot beside the road as there is no facilities such as a post office or stores and a mile or two and we are in Morganza . Old houses, neglected and in disrepair line the road; Population 465 people and a post office. The levee spans this town. From the movie “Easy Rider” this is where Peter Fonda’s character was killed.There is a plaque here mentioning the event.
New Roads, a river town sits beside False River. Beautiful homes line the riverbank with their own boat docks. Quaint shops beckon the tourists and the traffic moves slowly through this village.
A quick lunch and we were headed back to Lafayette. The van got 15mph..that’s combine town and highway. We saw signs for gas at 4.00 per gallon. I may be using the van for a lawn ornament. On another note, the oilfield maybe picking up once again. Fidel, though retired, may go back to work. In that case, he can drive the van to his jobs and I’ll ride along. I could get a rental when we get where he is going. That’s a slim possibility as he enjoys NOT working and I understand that.
Thursday, August 19, 2021
Covid Report, Day 18
Gradually Fidel’s strength is returning. Must be all those trips to get his own water and whatever else he use to request of me. I wasn’t being mean but it was the only way to get him up and moving.
His appetite is getting better though he has lost 24 lbs. during this illness. He walked out to the little house today and made some phone calls. He still needs rest periods during the day but I expect that.
Tuesday he went for his vaccination. He asked the pharmacist “You aren’t going to hurt me are you?” She said “Not much”. LOLOL. I think me must be really afraid of getting injected, regardless of what it is for. He did say afterward in amazement “I didn’t feel a thing. Do you think she really injected me?”
(Sigh)
Covid is all around us here. I just heard that the neighbor a few houses away is now infected. She was feeling bad all last week and thought, as I did, that it was allergies. Friday she got her injection and by Sunday was feeling worse so she got tested. POSITIVE…..She was one of the hold outs on getting vaccinated but decided she would go that Friday. Too late. She was already infected. Her husband still refuses to get vaccinated. (Sigh)
The rate of vaccination here has increased but I watched our local TV channel last night as the Army medics arrived at our hospital to assist the staff in all the patients that have been admitted.
A local city meeting was held a couple of days ago. Everyone there was told to leave as all of them were unmasked and there to protest the masking of their children in school.
(Sigh)
We are very close to being moved back to phase 2. Thank you Lafayette and our local congressmen for that.
I’m done here. It’s time for my nap too.