From Jefferson:

So, let’s see…

Crab quiche (got the recipe!), seafood gumbo with garlic bread and more crab quiche, canoli to die for (and probably will because of the dietary contents).  That was all home cookin’ thanks to my sister.  Well, except for the canoli.

Then there’s summer squash and crab meat soup, but to call this a soup seems disingenuous.  The squash gives it a distinctive but soft flavor and color, and the crab meat was so thick it was almost fork-able.  Unfortunately this was from Whole Foods, so no bringing the recipe home for this one.

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Dropped by the UPS Store and verified all the facts regarding shipping my package on Wednesday.  We agreed on everything.  My Omaha Steaks recycled shipping cooler will serve again to transport prime foodstuff, though this time for products the beefy Nebraskans never envisioned in their container. 

On Wednesday I’ll load the cooler with 20 pounds of frozen boudin from my favorite boudin place, Ray’s Grocery in Opelousas, plus 12 packages of crawfish tail meat.  (Want to compare sisters?  Mine drove 2 hours to Opelousas to get the boudin for me, brought it home, and has had it in her freezer awaiting my arrival.  Your turn…)  Then I’ll top it with 10 pounds of dry ice and close it up. 

Ground shipping time between here and home is 2 days, so I get 2-day service at a ground rate.  Can’t beat that and it’s cheap enough that I’m not going to mess with using it as a second piece of baggage on the return flight and having to deal with both it and the airline regarding it.

I’ll get home Thursday evening, thanks to Bernie of Bernie & Elise (don’t ask — they’re not planning on going commercial!) and the cooler will arrive on Friday, ready for the contents to be moved into the home freezer.  Well, most of them anyway.  There will probably be a few pounds of boudin directed to the refrigerator for a slow thaw and consumption the following day or two.  It has taken a lot of willpower already not to tear into it right here, just to save on shipping costs, of course.

Today has been a very active one.  I also went to Wal-Mart (arachk, spit…) to see if there was any dry ice in their sales cooler and found the same result as the last time I went there.  The cooler had only a few empty bags in it.  Seems they could just save some floor space by getting rid of the cooler if they aren’t really going to have the stuff available for sale.  On Wednesday I’ll go to the same commercial ice place to get it just as I did for the boudin adventure to Iowa last year. 

And speaking of Iowa, our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in Iowa City are OK there.  Our son has been doing volunteer work with sandbags and has learned just how tough that work can be — he’s a little older than I was when I got my sandbag experience, but his is in a much more peaceful, though no less threatening, environment.  Our daughter-in-law, on faculty at UIowa has been helping other areas of the university; her area is apparently safe from flooding.  The university will be entering a major recovery phase shortly and it won’t be pretty.  Many will be affected in ways they never imagined.  I of course would never wish such bad fortune on anyone, but the experience the family is having is a valuable one and they will learn much from it, thankfully without paying the personal price of home damage or personal injury themselves.  My life experience assures me they will never forget the summer of 2008.

Today, now that it’s past midnight, Tuesday, my sister and I will visit the new Insectarium (here and here) in the old Custom House near the river end of Canal Street.  That building has served as many things, including the recruiting office were I began my military career, but I wouldn’t have predicted an insectarium would be housed there in later years.   I think I’ll be taking it easy before we go though, because the recent level of activity has finally really nailed me.  I wasn’t sure I’d make it from the car to the house when we got back from supper, and I’m on my max dosage of muscle relaxers and pain pills at the moment.  I’m not sorry we made the trip, but I’ll admit it planning was probably unrealistically aggressive.  I’ll definitely be taking it easy when I get home, 5 days earlier than planned and with no side trip, and I suspect I’ll have no choice in that matter after the trip home.

On Wednesday, before gathering everything and sending the prize UPS package out I’ll have lunch with my brother-in-law, one hell of a neat guy, and someone I met a few years ago when I was a volunteer and he was a track and field official.  I’ve worked with and around him several times now, and though I can’t say he was one of the folks who talked me into becoming an official, I’ll say he’s a darned good example for new officials to watch.  I know I did.  It’s going to be really good to see both of them again.  They are in Louisiana and I’m in Florida, so opportunities to work with them are few and far between.   

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On a totally unrelated subject, I’m sure you are aware of the TV broadcasts going digital in February of 2009, and of the two $40 “gift” cards you can get from the government to purchase two converters.

Point one is that if you look at that card you will find that it expires 90 days from date of issue.

Point two is that though you may be a cable subscriber and have no use for a converter, I’d suggest you consider that cable may go out in an emergency situation.  At that point you may want to receive a broadcast signal from a set of rabbit ears, but you will need a converter to do that.  My emergency kit now contains a set of rabbit ears and a converter box.   Just a thought.