Another flea market weekend.

What was different about this weekend was we left Friday afternoon and stayed overnight in Hammond. Hubby had a set amount for a room, so we decided on Western Inn.
It was not a Best Western, haha.

When I checked in to see about a room, there was a sign on the counter that said We Do Not Rent to Locals. I thought about asking about the sign, but decided I didn't want to know.
It was an okay room. Let's just say we slept with our guns out of their holsters...

After I got the room, I asked about someplace nearby for crawfish. It is, after all, crawfish season. And while I should have taken more pictures, lets just say I was hungry and the crawfish were great! I would definitely recommend Chookies Seafood and Oyster Bar to anyone passing through Hammond, Louisiana!

That young man was playing saxophone when we got there, and was still playing when we left. Not exactly sure what he was playing, but he had sheet music in front of him. There was music inside the restaurant also, so you couldn't hear him unless the door opened.

When we headed to the flea market, we stopped by a donut shop called Mary Lee Donuts. The 'Hot Now' sign was lit. And yes, I should have taken more pictures...

The donuts were light and airy, not heavy like some. The best donuts I have had in a long time.

The flea markets we have been to before, but it is the second weekend of the month. V. Watts is an antique furniture store, so we stopped in Friday and saw some nice pieces. Was nice to go before the Saturday crowd!

And we also went to the Flea Market of Louisiana, as they bill themselves. Click on the pictures to see them larger. And yes, they let people sell trailers and all sorts of things there.

Crossing back over the Mississippi on the way home, this tug was pushing a bunch of loaded barges up-river.

And crawfish ponds, which in a few months will turn into rice fields again.

And sugarcane fields. They harvest the cane three years in a row before they have to plant again.

And now I need to stop playing around and do my ironing. I hope you all have a blessed week!

After the storm.

You'd never know we got between five and eight inches of rain yesterday. There is standing water in a few places.

Can't really see the puddle out there; but except for the neighbor across the street that is the house of our closest neighbor. Hubby has known them all his life.

The farm field behind us. No standing water there now, though you could see it yesterday.

No noticeable standing water here, but you can bet it's there if you walk out there.

Our drainage depression.

This is a piece of a dead oak branch. It would probably crumble in your hand, but the storm drove this piece of branch into the ground. Probably about an inch. Didn't pull it out to check. We often see this sort of thing after a storm.

We are very blessed that we only lost power for a minute or two. There are small towns around us which are still without power. In one of the towns a man who was working lost his wife and daughter when their mobile home was overturned and destroyed. No other mobile home in the park was damaged. May God comfort that family.

I hope you all have a safe, blessed week.

The farm yesterday

Spring is in the air and the pecan trees are waking up. I will share some of the pictures I took yesterday.

Pecan flowers.

Wild dew berries or blackberries. They are related. We only just learned about dew berries and probably have both on the farm.

No telling what happened to the missing branches of this magnolia tree; but we think owls may nest in them. We hear hoot owls a few times a year when all is quiet at night.

The next four pictures are of one of the old Live Oaks on the farm. Hubby used to climb it, using that branch as the starting point, when he was growing up on the farm. You can see more wild berries at the bottom. And of course poison ivy. If it was a cash crop, we'd be rich, with all the poison ivy on the farm.

This old oak tree was hit by lightning at one time. You can see half of it seems dead. Hubby keeps saying he wants to cut it down; but Pileated Woodpeckers like old growth trees. Woodpeckers of all kinds have looked for food on it. And when the pasture grass is tall, owls sit on the bare branches at night to hunt. Besides, half of it is still alive! So for now, it stays.

I want to comment on the last two pictures in this group. Never been able to identify it. It is a vine. It has never flowered. It has leaves, and some of the nastiest thorns! If you click on the pictures, you may be able to see them. We have tried to kill it. Hubby got scratched by it when mowing the other day. When we first got here in 2008, it was so long it was growing into the 'corner oak' and it took a bit for me to realize there was a vine 'biting' me and not a mosquito or some other Southern denizen. I keep telling hubby we should train it along the fence line and it would take a bit of trying for anything o get through.

Hubby's climbing oak.

The gate oak

Corner oak.

And today?

One tornado warning passed. A night of rain predicted.

You all have a blessed week!