Not Hearing Much . . .

Not hearing much about Oil, Gas and Mineral Leases (OGML) in Pointe Coupee. Seems like all the activity is in the North part of the Pointe Coupee Parish. And if one looks at the stylized drawing of where the Austin Chalk is located, it makes sense.

The older gas deposits could be said to be part of the "Down Dip of the Edwards Shelf." At least the well on Alma, lead scout well of the era, is said to be of that ilk. That is the False River field. As one moves slightly to the North and West, the gas wells are in Judge Digby Field (basically Parlange and Wurtell holdings). Judge Digby is North of and abuts to Frisco Ridge Field.

The Frisco Field is all oil and is down about 11,500 to 13,000 feet in depth. This is an old field and for a while they were ejecting water into it get the dregs of oil out of it. They shut in most of the wells and used one central well to get the oil out. Now, they are drilling a new well at a greater depth - 13,000. I think this is said to be in the Moncref zone, well above the Austin Chalk (or AC) and Judge Digby Tuscaloosa Trend wells.

We are waiting to see how the LaCour #43 turns out. It is reporting a good well but they seem to be working on it a lot post drilling operations. Rumor is that the long lateral, about 7,000 in the AC is subject to collapse.

The AC is hard, naturally fractured but is no where near as hard as the shale beneath it. That shale is said to be the cap to the Tuscaloosa Trend and is known as the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (or TMS).

All the OGML to the North and East of Pointe Coupee Parish, literally across the Mississippi River are said to be for the TMS. So it is AC in Pointe Coupee and TMS in West and East Felecianas, East Baton Rouge Parishes and further East and North into Mississippi along the common state border lines.

The "Go Haynesville Shale" forum seems to think that the TMS and the AC will sort of meld together. The TMS is generally known as the Eagle Ford in adjacent Texas (another hot spot). Truthfully all are slightly different and are related to the Edwards Shelf.

Time will tell.

Got A New Car . . .

Got a new car, an Explorer. My old Mountaineer was beginning to evidence some problems of age. The tranny was acting kind of funny when cold, like the internals were sticking. Time for a brake job. Air conditioner a bit on the weak side, still fine but probably needed a tune up. And, oh yeah, it had 93,000 miles and was gonna be due for the 100,000 mile check up. And these vehicles resale value drop like a rock after a 100,000 miles.

So it was time. Either keep the old one for another 50,000 miles and do all the maintenance or get a new one, at least new to me.

I got a 2010 with 17,000 miles on it. It has extra seats in the back, fold down electrically, rear cooling/heating system (got to take care of the third row passengers). It also has dual heating/cooling system that Judie likes. Tan interior and black exterior (not sure I like that too much, but . . .). Electric front seats on both sides (the old one just had that stuff on the driver's seat), heated seats, passenger side air bags and media control on the steering wheel. It has Sync for the cell phones but does not have the navigation system (I think I can find my way around). Got satellite radio too.

So it is a bit of an up grade to the old vehicle, a bit more modern.

I have already installed my model stuff in the back. That is easily removed and will be removed when the Jacob Morrisons arrive. I am sure grandson Will will be installed in the third row. We shall see.

It has got a funking gas filler. You just push the pump nozzle into it. Kind of hard to add additives if you do that kind of thing. They give you a special little funnel for that.

Basically, it is the same vehicle with more modern accoutrements in it. And all the rest is the same. Except this vehicle is black instead of tan. And it is Ford and not a Mercury or a Lincoln. But that is just fine as they no longer make the Mercury and Lincoln does not make their equivalent to Explorer any more either. So it is a spiffy newer vehicle and I do not have to worry about the 100,000 maintenance routine (new plugs, belts, etc.).

What a Waste . . .

Just read where Tulane is building a football stadium. Well, doh! Why did they tear down the old Sugar Bowl, a fine stadium at one time that was the biggest in all Louisiana. Why the Super Dome of course. It was supposed to replace the Sugar Bowl and be Tulane's home field.

So why can't Tulane play in the "dome." Of course they can and do. But they can not fill the dome much less any new stadium until they have a decent team. They had a shot a making a decent team by playing LSU but got out of that because Toledo's nose was bent out of joint. LSU simply wanted to make a little money on the deal instead of losing money on the deal. Tulane could not even begin to fill the dome thus it was a money losing proposition. Well they finally fired Toledo or he quit which ever comes first.

LSU said play in Baton Rouge and we will continue the series. Tulane said, "Up yours!" They got a one time payout of about a half million dollars and were told don't ever come back. Tulane has sunk even lower and hardly qualifies to be a Division I team anymore.

And now they want to waste money on a new stadium. Have they gone brain dead? They need to build a football team first, they think about a new stadium. If they do not then they will have another empty foregone place to play football.

I would have thought my brothers in New Orleans had more sense.

Geaux Tigers

Oh My God . . .

Just recieved a report from Haynesville Shale Forum that LaCour #43 well is producing 3,000 barrels of oil per day (B0PD). A bit of caution, in that the Anadarko well in Avoyelles reported initially 2,000 BOPD and it turned out most of it was water. It got rechecked and it is producing a little less than 800 BOPD and the remainder was water. Later it slowed down on the water to something less than 300 barrels of water per day. Of course 800 BOPD oil per day is not shabby. That would be around $8,000 per day at $100 a barrel price.

None-the-less, that is a whoppa of a well in Avoyelles Parish. I am sure there will be more information available shortly. Right now there is nothing to be found in SONRIS Lite, this data came out of SONRIS, the full time Louisiana Department of Natural Resources data base. So I expect in a couple of days there will be more information on Sonris Lite. Then I will know more.

This is terrific news for all of Pointe Coupee. It means another oil boom is underway. And this one is bigger than ever before. Technology has caught up with three dimensional siesmic analysis and more extensive horizontal drilling coupled with fracking technology improvements. As gas is declining in the Judge Digby Field, oil is cropping up in the LaCour Field.

This an Austin Chalk zone well. In my presuit of information I have found that the Austin Chalk sits atop the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS). TMS is coupled to the Eagle Ford formation in Texas, another oil boom zone. TMS is the hot topic in West and East Felecianas and going on Eastward. It extends South to East Baton Rouge (only the Northern extremes around Zachary and over towards the Mississippi River. For example, the Mississippi River bottom has been leased by the State of Louisiana from around St. Francisville Southward past the new John J. Audobon Bridge.

I am sure North Pointe Coupee is going to be turned into a lease bonaza. Perhaps all along the Mississippi River in what is locally known as Pointe Coupee. These wells are not as deep as the Tuscaloosa Trend but are plenty deep.

The horizontal lateral of the LaCour #43 is a little more than a mile long. The depth of the well is about 16,300 and the total is around 22,000 feet. As far as I can determine it is drilled toward the East at maybe an angle of 95 or 100 degrees from the North. So it is on a slight angle down from due East. I would not be surprised that the next well be located in the forebay of the Morganza Spillway.

Maybe out turn has come. We shall see.

Strange Little Critters . . .

Our little lizards are strange little critters. Our matriarch, Fritzina, is the biggest baddest one of the bunch but she has spawned any number of second generation lizards that are all around us.

Of recent times, some of her off spring have decided to live in her turf, so to speak. We have watched them grow from a little over an inch and half to almost full size. They have fine long tails while Fritzina has a shorter one, I think something got a hold of her and it got sacrificed. No matter we see them often on the patio.

Of late Fritz junior has been hiding in and around the baker's rack that is adjacent to the back door. The baker's rack is against a short brick wall that faces south, and is only about four or so feet wide - just right for the baker's rack. We find him in the flower pots and lately entwined on the bakers rack or just on the wall behind the rack. His coloring matches quite well with our bricks, so one has look carefully to see him sometimes, they blend in well.

He seems to come in at night and clings to the wall. It is, I think, a safe spot from predators. He has the rack between him and free space from a potential attacker to get at him. Good instincts I guess for I am sure they have limited intelligence. Their life is food and survival.

Well Fritzina discovered the interloper in her territory. A couple of nights ago I noted not one but two Fritzs behind the rack. But in the AM I found only Fritzina behind the rack. Me thinks she chased them away.

Yesterday, while cutting the grass, I do the weed eating, Judie cuts the grass ala styled like her father, Bill Gremillion. I had trimmed the usual spots along the front curb and by the power transformer and was walking toward the back yard. When all of sudden I saw Fritzina taking off toward a Hackberry tree. She quickly climbed and moved to the opposite side from me. So when I went of to see her, she scooted around to the other side away from me. Of course, I had that lethal weed eater in my hands.

Any rate, it is getting cooler and the Fritz, etal, will soon be seeking a winter haven. I am sure they burrow under some leaves to find a spot to winter over until next year. Their season is coming to an end. Being cold blooded animals, they need the heat and with that fast disappearing, they will go into hibernation.

The Market . . .

Looks like the bottom has fallen out of the market, the stock market. The market does not like Obama, his jobs plan (or reality lack of a job plan) and European debt problems (Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy). The only European country that seems to be solving its problems is Ireland. Great Britian, not a member of the common market or a member of the European Economic Community, seems to be holding its own. Germany, bouying up the European economy, is fighting to hold on. The Swiss simply sit back and wait. Nothing heard from in the newly liberated states in Eastern Europe. I suspect they are truly teetering on ruin. No tell what is going on in Russia.

All that adds up with Obama uncertainly premeating the economy here in the states bodes bad news for all markets. The only thing seeming to be doing good is commodities but that is way to risky for me to get involved in. I suspect gold and silver will soar.

I guess I will just stick with coins for the moment. My collection will probably appreciate quite a bit. Though I am not in it for profit.

I see a buying opportunity opening up. Probably tomorrow. Also time to unload losers. I am of the opinion to trim some of those less than stalwart performers. I will probably buy some more DVY, an Exchange Traded Fund of dividend paying stocks. It is yielding 3.58%. at least that is well above US bonds. So it is probably a good time to acquire some more of it. It spreads the risk across 90 stocks and pays well.

And all the while a new roof is going on - in the rain. Things have stopped due to the sky is leaking. No hard rains but they can not count on that and must sit by and wait. I'm thinking they are finished for the day.

Football Weekend . . .

Football got into its first real football weekend. The previous games were sort of warm ups. The big time teams schedule the "big check" teams to play usually at home where the stadium is quite large and the seats get filled. The big check teams are wanta bes, need the extra revenue and the NCAA forces the big teams to schedule a few of the little guys every year.

LSU opened with Oregon, which was not a big check team. Oregon was ranked #3 and LSU #4 and the game was played at the Cowboys stadium in Arlington, TX. That was a neutral field for both teams but it really was more an LSU turf area. LSU sent about 37,000 fans and Oregon about 15,000 fans. Of couse, it is history now, LSU stomped Oregon and took its place in the national rankings. Oregon fell back to about #15 or so in the rankings. Oregon has since trashed a couple of teams out west.

LSU played Northwestern State, the Demons, from Natchitoches, LA. They were no competiton. The first string for LSU played the first half and the rest of the team played the second half. A good way for gaining experience.

LSU has since played Miss State, my father's alma mater. It was a good but tough game. Miss State played well for a while but simply got worn down by LSU. LSU's conditioning was superior and their depth of players was greater. Not that Miss State does not have a big team, they just do not have the talent in depth that LSU has. LSU really took over in the third quarter and by the fourth quarter had decimated the Miss State team.

Now on to West Virginia for LSU. Going to be a good regional game. Clemson demolished Auburn this weekend in an ACC rivalry game. Tigers facing Tigers. Auburn just barely beat Miss State and BYU. Both teams they played put up pretty big scores. They just out scored them. Miss State did not even score a touchdown against LSU. Clemson out scoured Auburn. That bodes badly for Auburn, no defense to speak of. Bama and LSU will eat them up.

So we will see how another high scoring offense does against the Tigers in the West Virgina team. Could be very interesting to watch. Since LSU shut down Oregon's vaunted offense and Miss State's offense, it will be challenge to take down West Virginia's offense.

Other teams that got stuffed were Ohio State. Miami took them down. They did not look to good to me. Notre Dame took down Meechigan State too. So a few of the big timers got shut down. Watched Kentucky lose to Louisville. That is an in state rivalry. I think I saw that Vanderbuilt destroyed Ole Miss, if so that is a bad set back for Houston Nutt. His days maybe numbered.

New Orleans and the Monteleone . . ,

We got back from our New Orleans trip. We did all the things we wanted to do. Ride the St. Charles Street Car, walk the French Quarter and visit the French Market. Bought Parlines from Aunt Sallies, had coffee and binquets at Cafe du Mode. We dined deluxe at Galitois and even strolled down Bourbon Street. We found the city, the French Quarter, vibrant and alive with people all over the place. The tourists were everywhere having a good time. Where else can you walk out of a bar with your alcoholic drink and stroll down the street. It is truly a carefree zone. You see all kinds of people, mimes, drunks, strippers, hot dog stands, oyster bars on every corner, lots of food, good food at that. The major restuaraunts in the Monteleone were undergoing renovation so eating out was a must. But that was the intention anyway, Even brought a sport coat for the occasion. Certain up scale eateries require a coat after 6:00 PM, which is okay with me. My legs were sore from so much walking. I did not bring walking shoes so was stuck with my loafers which did not have the support of athletic shoes. Missed the LSU football game but it was ho hum anyway. Watched the end of the Meechigan and Catholics game. Thought Meechigan had lost but they came back and did in the Catholics. Poor Nortre Dame (the Catholics) no longe have the mystic and magic, they are at best a second tier team now days. En route to New Orleans we spent the night at the camp, ate dinner at Morels with Mark and Paul. The Camp looked good, well cared for with the grass freshly mowed. Some of the elaborate planting gone and will be missed. The new place next door is obnoxious. But then that's life along False River now days. We left New Roads and drove across the new bridge, nice and quick. Down to Baton Rouge, stayed on I-110 to I-12 and drove over to Covington. Ate dinner at the Acme Oyster Company, simple, a bowl of gumbo. It is located on US 190 just a couple of miles from the Pontchartrain Causeway. Like the new bridtge, the Audubon Bridge, we had never been across the causeway, so drove it across the lake. It was a pleasant drive and tooks right into I-10 on to downtown New Orleans. Got off at the French Quarter, went to the hotel and parked the car (and it stayed parked until we left). We really enjoyed the Monteleone Hotel, we found the employees to be pleasant, friendly, helpful and not over bearing. So it made the stay even better, no snobishness, just sort of family oriented. There was at the hotel six weddings and one convention going on. The Carousel Bar was packed nightly. We were surprised at how may tourists were floating around the French Quarter. They were everywhere. We think we will do it again, maybe next year. Who knows, we had a great time looking around in the shops and walking the French Quarter.

I am beat . . .

I am beat, kinda slept in this AM, tired after a day at Humperdinks solicting money for LSU Scholarships. Gary Taylor, our Treasurer, had the idea for the Cotton Bowl to have a box with a small poster asking for $5 per person to get into Humperdinks. Of course it is free to get into Humperdinks but the generous LSU fans contributed hardly at the Cotton Bowl last January. My diea was to get in their faces and asking for the donations. That worked. But it was tiring and others did not seem to have the knack for asking for the money. Not me. We had to split the take with the Dallas Alumni Club at the Cotton Bowl but not this time. So all that I collected went into the pot for the scholarship fund. Gary sold cozys and towels, T shirts and beads. I just begged. But we rolled up a nice return for our efforts. Opportunities like these do not come by a little remote chapter like us, so we had to make the most of it, Gary and his lovely wife, Linda, went off the game and I stayed at Humperdinks and count up the take. We collected and sold $5,268. We also collect from several motels that we ballyhooed on the web page and from independent vendors. So I expect we racked another thousand or so dollars. Nice take, right. I arrived at 8:00 AM and began collecting while Gary set up his sales table. Humperdinks (aka Humps) did not open until 9:00 AM but we had people there already. By 10:00 AM the place was rocking, by 11:30 we had already maxed out the building capacity. We who stayed at Humps to watch the game on TV had a more sedate time of it but still well populated with folks. We even had some that left the game at half time, the complained of having "High altitude seats." Any how, beer is a lot cheaper at Humps than at the Jerry Dome. We had a great time. I got home at about midnight, hoarse, tired and pleased at what we had done. But old guys like me can not take to many of these events. Counting out over $5,000 was quite a task. And it was great win by LSU. Oregon learned that SEC defensive football is quite different than west run and gun or speedy shoot outs. They found LSU defense equal to their highpowered offense and got kinda shut down. The LSU offense came alive in the second half and Oregon got beat pretty badly. Geaux Tigers . . . .

Rant

Today I sent a rant to one of my old military friends, a Democrat. I asked him why President Obama was so bad. He has shown no effective leadership. He has dragged us deeper and deeper into debt. Yes, others created debt too but he has more than doubled all others in that category.

And he shoveled out the money his union cronies and the like. Shovel Ready as he personally said, "Was not so shovel ready after all." He literally pissed the money away.

He spent two years brow beating congress into passing Obamacare. He had to pay off several Senators to get it through. And now it has been declared by both constitutional and unconstitutional by Federal Judges. It is own its way to the Supreme Court and hopefully will die an indecent death.

He had stopped the border fence, his Department of Justice (DOJ) via the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) has been caught up in a scandal of selling arms to Mexican gangs just to prove such things happen. Well duh?. The same DOJ has been caught up in voter fraud scandal. The same DOJ attach Arizona's effort to control illegal immigration. The Transportation Security Authority (TSA) has been caught searching young female children and old ladies. How stupid can we get? The border is on fire and he does little or nothing about it. We got to get thses illegal immigrants out before they over run us.

He tried to close Gitmo and fortunately, Congress intervened. Nobody wants those scum bags in their states. Nobody want some crazy Federal Judge turning them loose in the US. Sanity prevailed and Gitmo continues, thank God.

He has dragged into yet another war. He lambastes for Iraq and Afghanistan but has pushed us into Libya. He does it by excuse, somebody else is prosecuting the war but with our money and our jets and our munitions being used up. He can not face up to reality.

When are we going to act. I am not against Democrats but this man is a progressive, not really a Democrat. He wants change and he wants fairness. Let me define that for you, he wants to take from the those that make and waste it on those that are non-productive. It is not so much a redistribution of wealth as it is buying off the mob, the masses, the proletariat. It is socialism at its worst.

We need to return to sanity. We need to cut government. We need to get EPA under control. We need to disband the Department of Education. We need to cut government salaries. We need to face reality!

I Passed the Test!

I had an Echo-Cardiogram Stress Test today. And I passed it with no trouble.

First, I was "wired" for an EKG. Not your normal EKG, I had 10 sensors hooked up. Then the nurse took my blood pressure. I was connected to a Quiton Q-Stress tester and I could see the heart pulses and pulse rate displayed. The METs, a measure of heart/lung performance was 4.6 resting. Later under stress that went up to 7.0.

Then I had to lay on the examining table/cot and while still wired up had an extensive Echo Gram looking for aneurysms, etc. The nurse complained that I had too much air in my stomach, and the machine had a hard time "looking" through air. I was asked if I ate breakfast and I replied, "I never eat breakfast, but did have a couple of cups of coffee."

We moved on with me on my left side so she could look at the heart. Every once in a while I could hear the sound of blood flow out of the heart. Sort of a growl but occuring at the rate of the pulse. Interesting but of no value to me.

Then came the stress test. The Cardiologist, a nurse and the technician were all present. The nurse took my Blood Pressure and I began "walking" on the treadmill. Did that for six minutes. And at several tread mill levels. The result was "fair to normal." It was not as steep as my morning walk but at a faster pace, 2.5 miles per hour. So I guess there is a trade off in there somewhere.

After the stress test and during the recovery, heavy breathing on my part, another heart echo-gram was conducted. Took about 3 or so minutes for my heart rate to decline along with my breathing and Blood Pressure.

So I passed.

And the Cardiologist said there were no blockages. He also said the Naisapam I was taking did not do much for blockages, not as much as they expected it to. But that it was super stuff for Cholrestorol treatment, so keep taking it and all the meds I was taking. And to keep doing my morning walks. He also said there are no guarantees and that things looked good but you can never tell. I take that as a self protection against an unusual cardiac event.

The final was, "See you next year." So for now on, I get an annual stress test.
The goal is to continue to pass tests.

Edwards Shelf Edge . . .

The Edwards Shelf Edge is the geological formation that seems to have all the oil in it. A shelf is an ancient beach so to speak. And just like a real current day beach it has gaps, and places where streams cut through it, etc.. When something cuts through the shelf it is bad news, where it does not cut through is good news.

The original False River Field Alma #1 gas well, the big discovery back in the late 1970s, early 1980s is now defined as the beginning of the Edwards Shelf Dip, or where it falls off so to speak. Alma #1 is capped off now, no longer producing anything. But it spawn the infamous Judge Digby Field which lies under Parlange Plantation and the adjacent Wortell holdings. There must be 15 or 20 wells drilled into that bonanza, not all are active but still generating a lot of gas. At one time that was the top producer on land in Louisiana. It does not do as well now days but still a winner. It has been producing since 1980, that's over 30 years now.

The Edwards Shelf is part of the Austin Chalk deal as is the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale. They are down there quite a distance, like a little over three miles or so. Given that the elevation of Pointe Coupee probably averages about 35 feet above sea level that is pretty deep. That means a lot of problems to drill and very expensive. Ergo, the price of oil has to be around a hundred dollars a barrel.

Some folks draw the Edwards Shelf on a map about in the Mississippi River in front of Angeles Plantation. Others show it further north well into the West Feliciana Parish. Only the experts know, the new technology includes three dimensional seismic plots. We of course have no access to that closely held data. But then why is Angeles Planraron being leased ahead of others in our area, eh? Don't get your false hopes up.

There are wells around Angeles, one on the back of LaBarre, one on the LaCour place both considered to be in the Morganza Field. And at one time the Wilbert well on the back of Stonewall, had a tiny corner into Angeles and the family got a lot of money for a while. That well played out in a year or so. Makes you wonder if it is worth reworking. They did that to the LaBarre well and it started producing again.

Our lease includes the Tuscaloosa Trend, a greater royalty involved. So I guess there is some potential that they will go for the Tuscaloosa Trend vice the Austin Chalk. Who knows what they will do.

The way the geology is in east Texas is Austin Chalk, Eagle Ford (that is very hot play in Texas), Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) and finally Tuscaloosa Trend. TMS is the hot play in the Felicianas across to Tangipahoa Parish. The TMS generally follows the Louisiana Mississippi State line with some very nice wells in Mississippi. There is a new field name Ethel (one says e Thel not Ethel as on I Love Lucy) over in East Feliciana. As the crow flies that is about 15 or so miles ENE of New Roads, a little past and below Jackson, LA.

Well you never know where lightening will strike, perhaps we will hit it this time around.

Here we go again . . .

The price of crude oil is hovering around a hundred dollars a barrel. When that happens mineral activity in Pointe Coupee heats up again. Back in the 1980 it was the Tuscaloosa Trend.

The "Trend" was a layer of sand bearing condensate and natural gas. Tremendous amounts of gas and the Parlange Plantation out on False River was right on top of the bonanza. It still is, still producing along with several other wells in what is known as the Judge Digby Field. At one time it was the top producing field on land in Louisiana, it is down around 15 or so today.

That spawned a lot of exploration activity and new fields named Moore-Sams and Morganza appeared. Both fields are still producing, though some wells have gone dry. The one the family was involved in went dry years ago.

Today there is a well about a mile south of the family holdings down into the Tuscaloosa Trend and is producing about 250 barrels of oil and umpty ump cubic feet of natural gas. It was a productive well, stop producing and was reworked three or four times, the last one successful. It has been producing for the last four years. It is known as the LaBarre well and is in the Morganza Field. There are a number of wells still producing in the Morganza Field.

The new activity involves the Austin Chalk. The Tuscaloosa Trend is down around 18,000 feet. Considering the average elevation of Pointe Coupee is around 30 feet above sea level, that is an impressive depth. Austin Chalk is above the "Trend" at about 16,500 feet. Between the Austun Chalk and the Trend is the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (as in the Hayville and Barnett Shales).

Our place is being leased for Austin Chalk at 20% royalty and Tuscaloosa Trend at 25%royalty. I am surmising that they may do either or both.

Some of the maps show the place is on top of the Edwards Shelf Edge which seems to be the most ideal spot. Other maps show it to be across the Mississippi River in West Feliciana Parish. No matter, the place has been leased - again.

The new field is name the LaCour Field and the test well is located in upper Pointe Coupee near the confluence of the Old River and North West Moganza Spillway Guide levees. It is set back a couple of thousand feet from each levee. It is to be 16,300 feet deep with a total depth of 22,000 feet. That means it will have a horizontal of about a mile. I believe the horizontal will be generally east/west in orientation. This will be LaCour #43. It sits in the edge of the older Morganza Field, wonder why a new name? I guess it has to do with the geological strator they are after.

So with the lease our hopes rise again. Just getting the lease money is good enough for us. It is like finding money in the road my grandfather used to say. He meant if was like free, no work, just collect it up.

BTW, the LaCour #43 us about 7.75 miles from the front of the plantation. But I have read they have leased as far off as close to the new John J. Audubon Bridge, or about 16 miles from LaCour #43.

Fritzville . . .

You have heard of Margaritaville, well we have Fritzville here. For several years we have had a lizard live in and around the back patio of the house. They are commonly known as "Fence Lizards." The proper name is Scroplosis Undalitus Undalitus or Hyacintha. They are found from Northeast coast of the US as far North as Massachusetts and across the South to our area in Texas. They are not found very much futher West than Palo Pinto County right next to us.

Their coloring matches very closely to a pile of old oak limbs we have stacked up to burn by the patio. So they often sun themselves on the wood pile and are hard to see as they blend in so well with old wood and lichens. You have seen old wooden fences with age growths on them like lichens and moss, and that is where you find them. They are not Chameleons and do not change colors. And they are bigger than Chameleons. Yes, we have Chameleons too.

Well we have Water Well Fritz, he lives at the water well. I believe he lives under the pressure tank. It is a great place to find insets, their primary diet. They love crickets.

We have on the other side of the yard near the faucet and hose storage container yet another Fritz. He lives under the hose roll up box, a big plastic assembly that we crank the hose pipe back into when finished spot watering. He roams the "mound," a left over pile of dirt just barely in our yard. It has a Crepe Myrtle growing on the top of the hill and a large one growing next to the hose storage container.

And we have the front porch Fritz. He lives out front. He roams the bushes, Crepe Myrtles. We see him infrequently but we see has leavings here and there.

And we discovered little Fritz, about a inch long body with a tail about the same length, residing in the flower bed by the main bedroom back windows. His turf is shared by Fritzina (who is probably his mother). She is quit a bit bigger than he is or any of the other Fritzes.

Fritzina lives under the big green storage cabinet that is on the patio pushed up against the rear windows. We store bird seed and other paraphernalia there. It is on rollers so there s quite a bit of clearance for her underneath the green box. We see her often in the AM on the patio, she ranges all the way into the garage, so she moves about. She also climbs the Hackberry Tree next to the main bathroom. We suspect it is cooler and yet another population of insects residing there.

This is Fritzina's second year with us. There was a Fritz but I think she ran him off, not enough food for both of them. She is bigger so she won to the turf.

Our neighbors are jealous in that we have so many Fritz's around us. We all use pest control a lot so there is no reason for us over them but we seem to be the preferred location.

So it is Fritzville.

Things . . .

Mid July, 2011. Eye surgery tomorrow, the left eye this time. Only a few more months of putting up with this for me. Dr. Labor said all I needed would be a Lasik tune up. Probably a PRK tune up. Have to wait for the eyes to return to normal. But first got to have the final operation on the left eye.

Examination the other day revealed high pressures in the right eye. New drops for that but no prescription. The servicing Optomertrist asked if I had been using any steroids. It did not occur to me, that one of the post eye drops was indeed a steroid. Makes you wonder if Doctors ever read their charts?

Fritzina is back under the big green cabinet on the patio. We often she her in the AM when it is cooler. She leaves big deposits right on our door lip. Makes you wonder if that little animal is trying to say something.

Weather is horrid. Temperature is running over a hundred degrees everyday this week. We are on to a new record for number of days over a hundred degrees. Lows at night coming in at eighty two or three. Good enough to walk at 5:30 AM but not later in the day at all. It truly is hotter here than in Tucson, Arizona.

Well is indicating it don't like the dry weather either. We are increasingly having to manage it to keep it going. The acquifer is suffering, everybody is sucking it down and it is not getting recharged. Already some neighbors have had their wells dry up (over drafting does it).

Life goes on . . .

Its Hot . . .

It is hot, burning up here. Record high temperatures and now over 11 days over 100 degrees Fharenheit. Heat index up around 104 to 106. The grass is showing stress in places where the water is not quite as much as the other spots in the yard. Even one little Oak tree showing heat distress, the other is doing fine as it gets a lot of run off from the hill (well not a hill, more of a slope).

One of our neighbor's well has gone dry, again. He does not seem to manage water very well (no pun intended). We space out our stations with a 15 or 20 minute wait after each one. That gives the well time to recharge. And then we do spot watering here and there.

When you use the irrigation system you are flowing the well at max capacity. When you spot water using a hose and single sprinkler head, then the well has plent of capacity. That and using a proper cycle as described above and watering at night all tend to get the job done without over drafting the well.

Don't understand our neighbor. He is a civil engineer, or so he says he is. Yet he has drainage problems (I don't guess he pays much attention to slopes or natural drainages). Now he has dried up his well. Not sure about this guys sense of geography or use of resources.

So far we are still doing okay. Drought here and floods elsewhere in the Dakotas, along the Missori and even down the Mississippi this year. Water distributino is not so good or water management is not so good. Texas has only two natural lakes, one of which extends into Louisiana (Cross Lake near Shreveport, LA). Even the Red River separates Texas and Okalahoma and they have made a huge man made lake, Lake Texoma, but it to is subject to drought conditions. The Red River is not a raging torrent most of the time, but rather a slow moving small river that can be mean and out of control at times.

We depend on man made lakes all around us for our water supply. Lake Weatherford is near us and it is down six feet or so already and still a couple of dry months to go. They back pump water into it from Lake Benbrook down the Clear Fork of the Trinity River from us. Locals don't like it but it serves its purpose to keep Lake Weatherford going.

Birds and deer come often to drink. So we have lots of them because we keep the bird baths full and feed the birds too. The deer are scavengers, drink water out of the bird bath and tip over the bird feeders to get the seed.

More on Austin Chalk . . .

Our lawyer says there is no fracking going on in Pointe Coupee. I sense that it is too deep to get done.

There is horizontal drilling and there is going to be a lot of that in the Austin Chalk. The test wells in Avoyelles are all horizontal wells. Some of them are posting laterals or horizontal distances of up to a mile or more. and there is said to be some new technology in seismic data reading. Really don't care as long as they sign up for a lease.

While the long laterals are good for the exploration and development it is bad for the land owner. It means the exploration companies want rectangular shaped units that are basically long and narrow. This takes up more area, ergo less production per square foot, royalties are spread over a larger area, or less per square foot. So the land owner suffers at the expense of the developer. I foresee fights at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over the size and shape of the units. Gonna get interesting I am sure.

Mean while I have found the Lebarre well on Google Earth which is directly south of the plantation, I estimate about three miles. The Lebarre well is considered a Morganza Field well, produces about 230 to 300 barrels of oil and gobs of gas each month. It was a producer that quit. And it is really a Tuscaloosa Trend well, not an Austin Chalk well.

In 2005 it was "recompleted" at a different Tuscaloosa Trend reservoir at 18,200 feet vertical well. However, it took three tries to recomplete the well but has been producing since 2005. It is kind of hard to imagine a well that is over three miles deep and the surface elevation is around 30 feet above sea level. Amazing!

I also located the Wilbert Well back of Stonewall Plantation, over grown and shut in. I wonder if it is worth "recompleting at a new reservoir level of the Tuscaloosa Trend" or even a location to go back in and to explore the Austin Chalk. I am told that (a) developers do not like to go back into wells and (b) their drilling processes really messed up the Austin Chalk as they went by it (too much mud packing the zone). I would imagine that there is a consideration of doing that but . . . As a matter of interest it was the well in which we had about four acres of production, our parents got a nice piece of change for about a year, then it sanded over and no one recompleted the well. It was a Moore-Sams Field well.

I urged the family to get on with the lease as I am afraid the price of oil is beginning to drop. If it gets to low, they wont lease and we will not get any street money!

Geological Terms . . .

If you are from Pointe Coupee you become familiar with certain geological terms that are associated with mineral production. Few realize that the top gas producing field in on shore Louisiana is Judge Digby Field. The big production is located on Parlange and Wurtell properties along False River.

The second most prolific gas producing area in Pointe Coupee Parish is the Morganza Field, which is somewhere around 9 or 10 in the rankings for onshore gas production.

Located close to the family Plantation is the Moore-Sams Field but production is limited. I think the only good well is located on the back of Sugarland Plantation which belongs to the Beaud family. It is several miles from us on Angeles Plantation. And it does not produce a lot of gas either. Perhaps they will go back in a frack it?

The geological terms or names we are familiar with are Tuscaloosa Trend and Austin Chalk. The Tuscaloosa Trend crops out around Tuscaloosa, Alabama but under Pointe Coupee Parish is anywhere from 18,000 to 21,000 feet deep. Considering the highest point of Pointe Coupee above sea level may be about 35 to 40 feet and average around 30 feet or less, those are very deep holes. The zones or reservoirs of gas are very narrow.

Above the Tuscaloosa Trend lies the Austin Chalk zone. It is somewhere around 15,000 to 17,000 feet down. And the Austin Chalk crops out around Austin, Texas. In fact, wells in eastern Texas in the Austin Chalk seem to be very prolific in production of oil.

Recent mineral leasing activity surrounds the Austin Chalk zone. LSU Petroleum experts think Austin Chalk may have around seven billion barrels of oil in it.

So what is driving the leasing furor. A couple of things. The foremost is the price of oil at around $100 a barrel and looking like it will go higher. But the other thing is changing technology in principally horizontal drilling and fracturing or "Fracking." Both of these technologies have been around for 50 or so years. But equipment has improved and the fracking fluids have improved.

Way back when all petroleum wells were just vertical in demenison, drillers when the got to the geological formation they wanted, would fracture the lower well casing with Nitroglycerene. Yup, they would literally blow it up so to speak fracturing the lower casing of the well and the surround geological deposits.

Today's fracking is differnt. Yes, explosives may still be used to preforate the well casings but then the drillers pump down a mixture of fine sand and chemicals under great pressure to force open cracks for the petroleum products to flow into the casing. The sand holds the cracks open. Oh, yes the pressures used to force the chemicals and sand into the cracks is tremendous.

Ganged up pumps, several in series, force down the mixture into the well. Pressures may exceed 20,000 pounds per square inch. The pumps are mounted on trailers, one pump per trailer. The pumps are generally driven by 12 to 16 cyclinder diesel engines. This is a massive undertaking. Some say they may use up to a quarter of million gallons of water to do the job. But it only takes a day or two to do the actual fracturing, may be a week to set up to do the job.

Fracking is a common practice here in the Weatherford area. The Barnett Shale under lies Tarrant, Parker, Denton counties. Actually, it is much bigger than that and is America's number one producer of natural gas a the moment. At any given moment there are four or five drilling rigs in Parker County and the same in Tarrant County. Tarrant county has turned out to be a richer area but harder to drill for it is in the City of Fort Worth. But that is another story . . .

Not more than a couple of miles from us is a company named, you guessed it, "FracTech." Their fleet of trucks go out as far as Haynesville in Louisiana and Cotton Valley in Oklahoma. Others in the fracking business are Schumlemberger, Halliburton and the other common names of well servicing found across the oil producing areas of Louisiana and Texas.

All wells here undergo fracking. And not all wells produce for long periods, just as that is the same in Louisiana and Pointe Coupee Parish. I have seen several wells get capped and abandoned. Ironically, I have seen new wells be drilled close by, may be 500 yards away from the abandoned well. With slant/horizontal drilling there is no telling just where they are seeking the shale. All the shale wells around here are about 6,000 feet deep, give or take 500 feet.

So it is more risky to drill for success in Pointe Coupee. The wells here produce semi-wet gas, that is there is salt water, condensate and some oil. Gas is the primary objective here. Oil is the primary objective in Pointe Coupee. Every well here has a little tank of detergent that is dribble down the well bore to keep it clear of the crap coming up. A small bit of technology that detergent but it is the life saver of many a well around here.

So the current hot "play" is the Austin Chalk. No telling were the sweet spot is. All of it has some oil, but some oil is not enough, they want a lot of it, like a couple hundred barrels a day production.

When You Least Expect It . . .

When you least expect it up comes a piece of good luck or fortune. Received word that someone is interested in leasing the mineral rights on Angeles again. Turns out it is Anadarko Petroleum.

Strange sounding lease. $150 per acre for three years with an option for two more years at $75 per year. The $150 was said to be the bonus, like they are doing us a favor or something. Lots of questions.

I did a web search on Anadarko and Pointe Coupee and came up with the LaCour Field. Never heard of it. Well of course not, it is new. But it is based on the old Pennington well and the Austin Chalk formation, not gas but oil.

Austin Chalk extends from Austin Texas over to Biloxi, MS. And it runs right under the plantation. But it extends down to 16,000 feet or so in depth.

Any rate we are hearing good and bad things and will go with a lawyer this time for the lease. We can get a lawyer for $2 per acre to negotiate the lease for us.

I had thought all such activity was long gone and here it is again. As my grandfather once said, "Its like finding money in the road. You did not do anything for it, you just get it." The place has probably been leased five or six times over the years.

Closing In . . .

Time is closing in for the eye surgery. Had the "reoffer" appointment yesterday and we are set to go. Just need a time for the day of the surgery. I have already done the physical examination as required for presurgery clearance. I have also modified a pair of glasses with a clear lens and have gotten the presurgery mandatory eye drops.

When I had the physicial examination we discussed going to see a Cardiologist, it was deemed not necessary but recommended. I had a EKG done during the presurgery exam and it was said to be no problems. I do have what is known as "lipodemia" meaning high clorestorol, it has been that way since the 1980s.

They have me strapped down with high doses of Lipitor, 80 MG per day, and that keeps my lipids in and around the "Gold Standard." But since I am also a Type II Diabetic, it all bears watching.

I have other effects from the exposure to Agent Orange besides Diabetes Type II. I have Cataracts that are said to be caused by Diabetes/Agent Orange and Peripheral Neuropathy (sensitivity of my hands and feet). PN as Peripheral Neuropathy is referred to in VA circles, means I am gradually losing the ability to pick things up. So far it does not seem to effect my ability to fly radio control airplanes. I am hoping, of course, the cataract surgery will result in improved vision for flying.

And typical of being a Morrison, I have high blood pressure, sort of an association with age, Lipodemina, Diabetes interrelated. I also have arthritic knees from jogging while on active duty. And Gouty Arthritis too. All these things add up. The VA also says I have "bilateral issues" due to PN and arthritic knees.

But so far the VA deems that I do not have Carodic Artery Disease or as they say Ischemic Heart Disease. I will either have to have a heart by pass, stint installed or God Forbid, a heart attack before they will deem that I have that disease. But it is so common in my family it is unbelievable. My guess is all that jogging forestalled any of that kind of disease and I continue to this day to walk distances. Exercise pays off with longevity!

Any rate the year of the doctors for both me and Judie has arrived. Seems like one of the other has an appointment per week. Better than dying!

Winds Up . . .

No RC flying to speak of, getting tired of just fixing airplanes. But I needed to do that to really get ready for when wind conditions are ideal.

Got my Mountaineer back from hail damage repair, the job was just super, looks almost new to me. Costly but then I intend to keep the vehicle a while so might as well get it done and the insurance company paid for most of it.

A neighbor runs a paint and repair shop, so had him do it. Service King did the estimate and I did not like the looks of their operation. The Oneil's gave me a modest $50 "good neighbor" discount and really did a superior job. They were recommended to me by the local Lincoln Mercury dealer, also a neighbor.

Felt trapped without a second vehicle but we got by very easily on one car for a short period of time.

Oh, the Woe and Misery . . .

Oh, the woe and misery predicted by the liberal press over using the Morganza Floodway seems to have disappeared from the national scene entirely.

Earlier, it was, "You are going to flood a town, to flood Butte LaRose." Now they have seen (a) the flood is not tramatic but presistent and (b) it has not over whelmed the town nor the spillway for that matter.

It appears the dry/drought conditions have soaked up a lot of the water and while the Atchafalaya is rising, it is not inundating everything around it. Yes, there is more to come and there are yet some small communities in the line of fire, those communities knew it and are preparing for it.

It could be disaster down river from Morganza, now it is not even close. Some worry, some risk but the real pressure of over topping the levees is gone.

The Morganza Spill worked, the Old River Structure is still in place and the June rise has yet to ocurr. Yes, there will be yet another highwater condition coming down stream but not as severe as the present one.

Old Man River is doing what Old Man River wants to do, within limits.

Things are looking up . . .

Things are looking up in that the Atchafalaya will crest at a lower elevation at Morgan City/Berwick area. Those little communities like Stephenville and Amelia are making preparations and with a lower forecasted crest may help them avert disaster.

Butte LaRose may not get it as bad as forecasted too. I understand there are some hold outs that will not leave their hoomes. Sounds like Mount St. Helens kind of thinking to me. All too fatalistic. And they had dire results, the same could happen to the hold outs in Butte LaRose. I guess that is why they live there to begin with, isolation and the beauty of the swamp. It is all they have and they just do not want to give it up.

Last I read there now 17 gates open in the Morganza Spillway Structure. I understand they will get to 21 gates now. Even so, at 17 gates the estimate is 114 thousand cubic feet per second going through that massive structure. Photos from the space station show just how much water has already gone through those gates. The concept and design is working. If they go to 21 gates, that is about 17% of the capacity of the control structure. I understand the crest at Vicksburg was not as high as forecasted, by less than a half a foot or so.

That just means the accumalators, the balloons, are soaking up a lot of the water and some of it is going into the ground. That also means those same accumalators will slowle release their water holdings over a longer period of time. So while the crest may not be as high as expected the duration will last longer. That to is a risk in that the levees will have to hold for a longer period of time. And time is one of the many enemies of a levee.

Not so lucky up river at Yazoo City/Vicksburg area. Memphis too. The low lying areas all flooded as expected. They live to learn their lessons again. But the poor usually have no where else to go but into the "cheap" territory. They get the land cheap and their small houses get consumed every so often. Others learn about how tributaries back up because they have no place to send their water and in fact get water pushed up their courses. No matter what you house cost it is a terrible loss.

It is never pretty. Saw where a three grain barges ran into a parked barge, sank all three of the barges. One came back up but it was enough to shut the river down in North Baton Rouge. The Old Mississippi Bridge abuttment had to be inspected and the sunk barges located. The rivermen say it is very hard to control the tows when the water is high - that means faster currents, more trash and snags moving down the river, etc. A few years back an empty gasoline barge hit an abuttment of that bridge and blew up. It knocked a large piece of decking out on the West bound side of the bridge closing it for a while.

Old Man River is the master!

The Snake . . .

There was a photo of an alledged snake along side of the road coming out of the Morganza Spillway. I think that photo went viral.

Turns out it is either a Brazilian or Australian photo. The trees in the back ground are nothing like ones would find in and around the Morganza Spillway. So it is a hoax, kinda got to expect some of that given that we are dealing with a sort of premordial area like a swamp.

There are more than one vedio shot of deer escaping the spillway heading for high and dry ground. Since there is a large wildlife area in Pointe Coupee over close to Krotz Springs, it extends down into Iberville Parish. I mean the area is not much good for anything else.

Apparently the water is not moving south as fast as the Corps of Engineers expected into the Atchafalaya Swamp and basin. But then the Mississippi has not crested either. So I expect they will open a few more gates to discharge about 100 to 150 thousand cubic feet per second. A cubic foot holds 7.4805 gallons, so that is about three quarters of million of gallons a second. That is a lot of water to turn loose.

We have several more weeks of this to deal with. Then when to close the gates as the river goes down, we will see what has transpire at the spillway structure. I am sure there will be much work to do to repair things. Got to replace or rearrange rip rap, check for scouring, replacement of soil in front of the structure etc., that will take some time to assess and evaluate.

We need to get ready for the flood to occur again. But it appears the Morganza Spillway is doing its intended job, to reduce the flow of the Mississippi in a controled and measured manner. It has been done many times at the Bonnet Carre since the 1930s. It has to be very serious for the Morganza Spillway to be opened. And all indicators, the river gauges, show the levels exceed the infamous 1927 flood levels.

It is a pity that over time along these cities or ports of the Mississippi, like Natchez, Vicksburg, and Memphis, all had to relearn the lessons of history. People should not build in the flood zones of those localities. Yet, they do it just like they do it down in the Atchafalaya Swamp. They know better and do it anyway as the land is cheap.

Some Good News . . .

There is some good news coming out of the Morganza Spillway, it appears the recent drought has caused a lot of the water to be absorbed by the soil. That's not much solace for those who had to evacuate but it is a good thing for maybe Morgan City - Berwick in that the river may not rise as much.

Still the water is creeping up at Krotz Springs and up around Melville. I saw a picture of what was reported as Simmesport but not sure. Soon those towns will be isolated by water but yet inside the ring levee will be pretty dry.

Word is that the gates opening is having a decided effect on the lower Mississippi, so Morganza Spillway Structure is doing its job. Also instead of 25% of the gates, and that is about 31 gates, the Corps has dropped the prediction down to 20% of the gates, or about 125 thousand cubic feet per second flow. The crest has not reached Red River Landing yet.

Domr of the prisoners of Angola State Prison have been evacuated to other jails. The local news said it was about 3,000 or so convicts have been relocated. The deputy warden did say the levees were holding and things should be okay.

So we can expect up to 20 gates to be opened at Morganza Spillway. That is an improvement for those in the way of all that water. Not much solace but some.

Saw a video of deer swimming out of the spillway, and a still photograph of a snake that was at least 25 feet long. I don't think the snake is a native but rather somebody's cast off python or something similar. Also a shot of bear swimming out of his habitat.

Some interesting things are being observed. The character of the Mississippi, wild life and Cajuns.

"Nine Gates Open. . . "

Nine gates of the 125 gates of the Morganza Spillway are open. All are fleeing in front of the wall of water: wild life and people. The Atchafalaya Swamp is getting restocked with fish from the Mississippi River.

So far things are working as expected. No one knows what will happen in the forebay of the Morganza Spillway structure. Could a new channel be developing? Or what is occurring the down stream flow out of the gates, will the rip rap hold the soil in place?

People are worried that it can not be closed. But remember it is built at ground level which is way above the channel of the Mississippi. So when the river recedes, the water will not continue to pass through the gates. The gates will be high and dry.

It is said that only 25% of the gates will be opened. The max capacity of the Morganza Structure is 600 thousand cubic feet per second, so that is a rate of about 150 thousand cubic feet per second. That will keep the river from rising any further at Baton Rouge and all places south including New Orleans.

Now that the spillway is opened we must wait and see what happens. If there is a disaster to the south, then I am sure they will open it up all the way to take the pressure off a crevasse. I worry about Upper Pointe Coupee, it is below the Old River Control Structure, and above the Morganza Spillway, so it is at the mercy of the river. A crevasse there would fill Upper Pointe Coupee to the top in about two days and the water would stay there.

Stay there you say, yes. There is no outlet, the water would be trapped by the surrounding levees. Water on both sides and no where to go. In normal times the natural drainage to south end of the area is pumped out into the Atchafalaya River. Those pumps would be submerged and useless. So Upper Pointe Coupee is isolated and must stand by itself.

So what you say, well in the history of crevasses from about 1880 to present day there have been 10 in that region. Even in the 1927 flood, the levee crevassed at McCrea which is a community of sorts in Upper Pointe Coupee along the Atchafalaya River. There was a later crevasse on the other side of the river at almost the same location. All the flooding of that era went down the Atchafalaya basin to the Gulf of Mexico. All the Mississippi River towns like Baton Rouge, White Castle, Plaquemine, Donaldsonville, New Orleans, etc. were saved by those crevasses. The levee did not crevasse on the Mississippi, it did it on the Atchafalaya.

The Morganza Spillway is a man made crevasse that can be controlled. And the excess water is going to the same places as in 1927. Yes, the wider area has levees not to keep it contained in the Atchafalaya valley. The exception is that the Morganza Spillway will not flood Upper Pointe Coupee, the flooding occurs further down river on the same old Atchafalaya.

We will start to see the effects of the spillway in a day or two. We can expect to see the Atchafalaya up stream flow to slow down and rise to cause flooding along that stretch of the river. Already Melville and Krotz Springs are under alert and folks are withdrawing into the ring levees. I suppose Simmsport will be doing the same.

Towns with no protection like Butte LaRose and Stephenville will get flooded. Parts of Morgan City will get flooded, those parts outside the ring levee in particular. Butte LaRose is like on a hump of land down in the swamp. It is not high enough and will get flooded. Not nice but a fact of life.

Pray for those people, they need all the help they can get.

"Old Man River . . ."

The mighty Mississippi is up to its high jinks again. Daddy used to say, "There is no problem in the lower Mississippi valley unless the Missouri rises early and the Ohio rises late." And that seems to be the problem.

The Mississippi south of St Louis is flooding. Already the US Army Corps of Engineers have blown the levee to protect Cairo, IL. Cairo is important because it is the confluence of both the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers. If they had not relieved the pressure from the upper Mississippi, Cairo would have flooded and quite possibly been washed away. I have cross over the Mississippi from the Illinios into Missouri from Cairo on my way home to New Roads from Chanute Air Force Base, IL. When we went to Chanute we crossed over the Ohio from Paducah, KY into Cairo. So I have seen it from both directions so to speak.

The lower Mississippi is constrained at Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez and Baton Rouge south to the Gulf of Mexico. Between those cities are places along the river that can get up to 10 miles wide and thus act as an accumulator slowing down the flow of the river. But the river really rushes though those locations. The accumulators or balloons help slow down the rate of flow, dampen things so to speak but they do not retain water for long and it all drains back into the river.

When the river rises like it is now, it backs up water in all its tributaries. One has no idea how many those there are - creeks, small rivers even just drainage areas. So while Memphis itself sits on a bluff and is relatively safe, the low lying areas drained by the local watershed is soaked and full to the top. That means all the low lying areas are flooding. That is why those areas are called the flood plain, they are subject to flooding. And that is a well known factor.

The US Government provides flood insurance to those people. No, it is not free. And it has a $15,000 deductible. So it is crisis insurance only. And it is not cheap to get.

When the levee breaks it is called a crevass. Pointe Coupee Parish is most vulnerable to crevasses. It has the Mississippi on the North and East sides of the parish and the Atchafalaya forms the West boundary. In 1927 the Atchafalaya crevassed at McCrea in Pointe Coupee, down river from the present day Simmsport bridge. It also crevassed at Melvillie across the river (West side) and little further south of McCrea. That is why towns of Simmsport, Melville and Krotzsprings on the West side of the Atchafalaya are surrounded by ring levees. You would not notice it too much today as both Krotzsprings and Simmsport have out grown the ring levees and are sprawled wll out beyond the levees.

Just above the Old River Structure, where a US Corps of Engineers constructive effort to keep the Mississippi out of the Atchafalaya river, is a stretch of levee that can be dynamited if necessary. The fear is that if that is done, the raging waters may cut a new channel to the Atchafalaya and leave Baton Rouge South high and dry. So that is truly a last resort location to cut the levee at that point.

The next location is the Morganza Spillway. The town of Morganza is not new to crevasses and once there was a town of New Texas out on the river above Morganza. It has long washed away. The spillway structure is just North of the town on Highway 1 which crosses the structure. Basically, there is a fore bay that stretches from the flood gate structure to the river, perhaps three or four miles in depth. This is one of the accumulators I refer to. The river at that point can reach perhaps 10 or 12 miles wide. Pretty significant size body of flowing water.

The spillway is a series of guide levees that extend down into the great Atchafalaya Swamp and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. The spillway runs abreast of the Atchafalaya river as it more or less leaves Pointe Coupee Parish to the South. A great deal of water can be absorbed by the swamp and if need be, the lower Atchafalaya levee can be breached to allow the water to flow back into the river making an easier path to gulf.

The guide levees cut off upper Pointe Coupee from any natural drainage. That enclave drains toward the South end of the parish but there the water is cut off. Pumps have been installed to lift the drainage into the Atchafalaya. But if there is a crevass in that area, all there will be flooded severely, up to the roof tops as the levees often reach a design level of 50 feet. Give the terrains ranges from 20 to may 35 feet above sea level, well you can judge for yourself. We are talking about a land mass of say 150 square miles.

Trouble is that Terrebone Parish and cities like Morgan City sit in the path of all this water. Morgan City has a ring levee but like Simmsport it has way outgrown the ring levee. So it is a prime target for flooding if the Morganza Spillway is opened up completely.

New Orleans is protected by the Bonnet Carrie Spillway that goes from the river at Norco to Pontchartrain Lake. The Lake fishermen complain bitterly about its use but there has been not significant damage to the lake ecology due to its usage. And it is has been used often. I can recall crossing it with water up to but not over the elevated roadway (bridge). I was but a small child and my father worked for the US Corps of Engineers in New Orleans.

He always said the Bonnet Carrie was opened when the flood gauge at Carrolton Street read 18 feet. New Orleans levees could not tolerate much more than 20 feet at best. So the Bonnet Carrie has been used many times since its construction pre war days some time after the great 1927 flood.

The new John J. Audubon Bridge opened yesterday as the St Francisville ferry was shut down due to high water. The ferry had no place to dock on the New Roads side of the river. This is a sort of annual event anyway, not necessiarily caused by the current anticipated flooding. The bridge is open prematurely with little fan fair. I am sure there will be festivities later in the year.

Let us hope that the new bridge does not become an evacuation route for Pointe Coupee. Ironically, New Roads in all the history of crevasses in Pointe Coupee has never gotten more that 3 or 4 feet of water, and that was only once. However, you can imagine what happens to False River. The camp would be under water!

And it would take a while for it to drain off. It would be a grand disaster of epic proportions. Now you know why the Morrison plantation house is up high on brick pillars.

Much A-do About Bin Laden

It is over, he's dead. He seemingly died ignobly by using one of his wives as a shield. What a POS.

All pundits seem to say it is better he died, keeping him around was said to be very troublesome.

No matter, he is gone. The head of the snake is cut off. It will writhe for a while yet, but its source of money is now gone. And we are advised it will gradually dry up.

No so for the Taliban, they still rage on in Afghanistan and it will for a while too. But now that one of their precious icons has been tapped out, means are we are getting closer to eradication. Take the next one and then the next one and they will learn. Dogmatic as they are, most of them do not wish to die, just for others to die.

As the man said, "Kill'em." There is no salvaging of the radicals. Terrorism has gotten into their blood and they lust for it. So give them what they want, an early and untimely death.

"Smashed Again . . ."

The "dry line" crossed over us and we had another monster thunderstorm come through Weatherford. We have hail stones in the freezer that are the size of golf balls, proof so to speak.

The trees got trashed a bit but not like the other storm we had three years ago. The vents are not smashed in, the wind turbines are turbining but we did pick dents in the Mountaineer, mostly on the hood. I am sure there are dents on the roof too.

I walked the neighborhood and Post Oaks gave off the most apparent damage, lots of leaves and small branches. Last time, the storm cleaned off all the leaves, not so this time. So the damage is minimal.

But there is currently a tornado warning for our area and more thunderstorms coming our way. Tis the season of, so to speak. Nothing to do but bow one's head and pray for the least amount of damage.

The reservoirs need the water. So it is not all bad but it can be very damaging if a tornado touches down or a prolonged hail storm comes through.

"Musings . . ."

Thursday we traveled over to Timpson, TX for Millie's funeral. Millie was Judie's first cousin, a step-daughter of her Uncle Ford Gremillion. She died of the dreaded disease, Breast Cancer. Millie knew what was coming as she was a registered nurse and a had a teaching certificate. So she was educated and knowledgeable.

Her married name was Trift and she had two children, a boy and girl. The son is married and lives in Timpson or near by. Both children are grown into their 30's. Timpson is a few miles from Nagodoches, TX, slightly to the north in the piney woods country speckled with oil wells. Timpson appears to be an old town, quite a few brick buildings but time has passed it by, it has but a little more than 1,000 inhabitants and I suspect most of them are urban dwellers, living away from the big city of Nagodoches.

She was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery there in Timpson. A nice and peaceful place on the edge of town and a nice place for her to rest forever more.

One of the ironies, is that we parked just off the pave path in the cemetery near Millies spot for last ceremonies. As we walked back to the car we noted we had parked next to the Morrison tomb stone. We both mused if that was a message.

After interment, we had a late lunch in the City of Timpson community center. A small but nice facility ideally suited for such a setting. It was in a little park on the south side of the city just down the road from both the funeral pallor and the tiny post office. We got to visit with the family once again.

We kibitzed with Billy and Cherry; Cherry is Millie's little sister and the same age as Judie. They went to school together and finished together at Poydras High School. We got married a year before Cherry and Billy.

Both Billy and Cherry looked well. We learned Billy, an MD and Surgeon, survived a bad Prostate operation where he nearly bled to death. He had signed a document to prevent transfusions (in today's age one can understand that directive with HIV/AIDS running around). It seems he checked himself out of Emory Hospital in Atlanta and went home to Big Canoe to recover. We learned he said some very bad things about University of Emory hospital, like incompetent, etc. He has both the credentials and the experiences to make such statements.

We saw Charlie Gremillion and his son, Nate as well as Patty and her husband. It was a smallish family gathering but then the occasion was not the happiest. This is virtually the only time we see any of them; we never see them in New Roads, the last time was at Taddy's funeral.

Millie is at peace now . . .

"Crawfish are a coming . . ."

The LSU Tarrant Tigers Crawfish Boil is coming up on April 30. It will be at the US Corps of Engineers park at the top of the hill on the east side of the Benbrook Lake. It is pretty high rise, well above the dam which is to the West of the park.

You take Bryant Irving all the way to the South end. It tee's into a road, turn right and head toward the lake. Just prior to reaching the park, the road turns sharply to the right. On you left is the park with plenty of parking and a covered area. It has rest room facilities and is probably 8 or 10 acres, most of it mowed, but some of it with wild flowers remains un-cut.

Plenty of room for animals both pets and children. It is, however, usually windy. There will be plenty of drinks (free beer), and a sales table with all kinds of LSU stuff.

Gonna be fun. Geaux Tigers!

"Wendel"

I sent a letter to an old fraternity brother, Joffre Fusilier. Well it turns out that Joffre has reverted to using his middle name, Wendel. It seems he only used his first name at LSU in both undergraduate and law school days. In his native Ville Platte, he was known as Wendel.

When he returned to Ville Platte to start his law practice he continued to use Joffre but ran into problems confusing his father's account with his over the name Jaffre. So he had to revert to Wendel again.

His son is also named Joffre. A fireman but attending college. Two daughters, one a lawyer that does not practice and one a nurse.

We had a long telephone chat. He is not much of a computer man, says his wife uses one at home and he has one at the office but not at home.

Anyway, another old fraternity brother contacted. Hank Bernard put me on to the Wendel name and I was successful getting through that way. I guess the Joffre addressed ended up at his son's house and in the ash can.

We talked a bit about Terry Dardeau. Sad, Terry returned to Ville Platte, bought a house and within weeks was dead. Yvie thinks Terry came home to die. Joffre (er, Wendel) said they were good friends but that Terry did not come to see him in the end. I don't think it was a snub, I think Terry was too sick.

I told him about Dwight Paulsen and Bernie Lafaso. He did not recall Keith Irwin at all. I found that strange but that is getting close to 50 years ago now.

"Friends Again . . ."

I managed to link up with former Fraternity Brother Hank Bernard. It was a nice thing to see the return email and now Hank is in my address book. I had sent a letter in the dark so to speak and it struck gold!

But the more interesting side issue is that Hank and I had a common friend from New Iberia, Leon Harris. And since Leon and I communicate quite a bit, I sent a message to Leon with Hank's email address (with his approval).

Today, I saw Leon's email to Hank. I hope they are well linked up now.

Our worlds grow and yet shrink. Our youthful buddies come back into contact. Today we are so mobile you never know where we end up. Hank ended up in Lafayette, just a few miles from New Iberia. Leon ended up in Grants Pass, Oregon, many mucho miles away in the mountains.

Ahh, that's life. . .

"A Visit From Abbe . . ."

We had a delightful visit from Abbe Sunday. She was enticing, adventuresome and cute. Who is Abbe you may ask? Well Abbe is a found black dog. And she brought her new owners to visit too.

James, Joan and Jammie captured Abbe along side the road across from the old Morganza High School in Morganza, of course. She was to near the highway and they picked her up to keep her from being squashed along the road. She was shaky and reputed to be full of fleas.

The fleas are gone. They took her to the Vet in New Roads, and they pronounced her healthy.

And they decided to keep her. She had no troubles traveling and still does not mind a long ride.

She is about 10-14 weeks old, black from stem to stern, with an almost chocolate color. She is otherwise a black dog of mixed ancestry. And she seems to be very intelligent little dog.

She is already house trained and yet just a puppy.

She is cuddly, quite and generally well behaved. It took a bit of work to entice a bark out of her. Right now she is more curious and very content to be an owned puppy.

So there is a new dog on the scene. A new member of the family.

Welcome Abbe . . .

"Looking for People . . .

In the past year I have tracked down a few of my old fraternity brothers. Some were easy like Yvie Poret (fellow USAF retiree, LT Col), others difficult like Terry Dardeau (I found his obituary), Bernie LaFaso (successful man), Dwight Paulsen (very successful man) but have yet to locate Brother Kieth Irwin. I know Brother Woody Bergeron married a girl from Livonia, a cousin with the same last name. He is in Atlanta region, a retired Delta pilot.

Dwight and Kieth were both from Franklin, LA. I looked there for Kieth but to no avail, then all over Louisiana, still no joy. Contacted Dwight and he thought he was out in Colorado. So I did a search out there and did find a Kieth Irwin.

Next step is to send him a letter. That does not always work, sent a letter to Brother Joffery Fusilier and got nada, nothing. Heard that Joffery was a very successful lawyer. I guess he forgot his college buddies but that's life for you.

Others like Donald Littlefield died early. Saw his obituary in a Lafayette paper. Today, I think Don was probably a homosexual and died of AIDS. What a tragedy, an early and unfortunate death. Don was the son of a very wealthy man, drove and Austin Healy 3000 sports car while at LSU. Sorry that his life ended so soon, I'm thinking no one missed him, pity to get caught up in the flotsam of life.

I think Hank Bernard is a lawyer in Lafayette and he does not respond either. He is either too busy or perhaps too sick. We had a common childhood friend in Leon Harris. Leon and I swap Emails regularly, he lives in Grants Pass, OR with his life love and wife. Leon done well too. Leon's brother, Johnny married Leah Raye Mougeot and lived in New Roads. Sadly Johnny passed on some time ago due to cancer, Leah Raye and I met at ex-brother-in-law's funeral. Through her I connected with Leon.

Well I am gonna sent Kieth a letter and see if he responds. It is interesting that those of us that are successful have no problems in responding. It seems that those of us less successful are perhaps embarrassed and thus do not respond. That's a shame because we don't care one way or the other, they were our friends at a formative time of our lives.

Life goes on . . .

"Got Tired of Screwing With It . . ."

Yup. I got tired of screwing around with the old weedeater and went got a new one. Oh, I will work on the old one, it is too good to give up on. But work had to be done.

I am more careful with this new one. It is a Troybuilt, a brand now owned by MTD, same folks as the Cub Cadet but a couple of steps down the ladder so to speak.

So all the tool heads attach, like the blower, the edger and the cultivator. And of course several versions of weedeater heads. So I have lots of weedeater stuff.

I am taking my time breaking it in. This one simply says use 40:1 oil mix where as in the past it said 40:1 but run a tank full of fuel that is mixed at a lower ratio for break in. I looked through the cheap but bountiful instruction sheet and saw no such break in directions.

It is a 25 CC engine, the same size we use on model airplanes in gasoline applications. So I doctored the fuel with a 2.6 ounce bottle of special blend 2 cycle oil and added about an ounce and half of Castor oil. I have plenty of Castor oil from my Radio Control applications.

Castor oil is unique in that it will blend with alcohol or gasoline while basic automotive grade oils will not mix with alcohol. So it blends in well and is a super additive for break in. It is a higher temperature oil and when it gets hot, it morfs into an even larger molecule. So it is excellent for break ins. It forms a varnish type coating and is good for bearings. Plus it smells good or at least in my mind smells better than the normal exhaust for a 2 cycle gasoline engine.

I am giving it heat cycles. Run for a while, let it cool down and then do it again. We call this temp cycles in the model business. After five or six cycles it will be essentially broken in. So I am treating it gently and feeding it good stuff. I hope it lasts.

Now I gotta go edge some more. . .

"The Weed Eater - Again . . . "

Had to tear down the wead eater power head again. Nothing wrong with the motor or carburettor, it is the pull start mechanism.

It is not a complicated thing, just have to figure out how to get into it and out again. First you have to take the trigger throttle/kill switch/handle off. Not hard actually, only five screws, four hold the handle assembly together and on the output shaft. The fifth screw is short and in fits a screw hole on the shaft to hold the handle in one spot. So when reassembling the handle one has to center that screw over the specific hole in the handle. The trigger throttle goes back to the power head carburettor and the kill switch fits in a little pocket on top of the handle convienent for the thumb to turn off the engine.

Next one has to remove the base where the power shaft fits on to the power head assembly. There are three screws holding that in place. Kind of chinsey, but it seems to work. Under the housing is the clutch.

There is a spring assembly that threads the power shaft drive assembly together. It is a flex cable and the end is squared off so it fits in a shock spring that fits ovet the end of the clutch housing. Easy in and easy out.

But now one is left with the silver clutch output assembly where the flex shaft feeds into and is held in place by the shock spring and housing assembly - nice lose fit as described above.

But how do you get the clutch housing off? Aha, there is a secret. One uses a torex bit screw driver and goes down the housing shaft. There is a screw that holds the housing on to the spring clutch assembly under it. You can not see it, you have to know its there. Unloosen the screw and it comes off. The screw is retained inside the clutch cover assembly so you never ever see it. This is where most home tree mechanics get stymied, took me a while to figure it out but I did.

Now one sees the clutch spring assembly. It is a centrifical expanding clutch. The springs hold it in the non-engaged position. When RPM goes up the mass of the assembly overcomes the spring load and engages the clutch assembly housing by explanding outward which inturn powers the flex shaft. Simple. Good design.

Once again, one has to resort to magic. A pair of lock pliers applied to the shaft of the spring clutch assembly and a large pair of water pump pliers are used here. The threads holding the spring clutch assembly are always counter to the rotation of the engine so are tight at all times. But with the water pump pliers, I grip the outside of the spring assembly and turn, and off it comes. Just unscrews off the flywheel shaft.

Now I can remove the front of the motor housing which houses the recoil starter asssembly. The flywheel has two spring loaded swing arms that reach out and engage a prawl assembly. So that when one pulls with authority, the prawl is engaged by the swing arms. The prawl is a star shaped nylon item and subject to wear and tear. It is a matter of clearance and reach.

Any way, one bends the swing arms so that they will engage the prawl when activated. The manufacturere cleverly does not tell you about this and after a year or two of operation, it kind quits doing its job. The result is the normal user will (a) take to be repaired or (b) junket for a new one. Repair shops are hard to find and expensive and so it usually becomes a matter of getting a new weed eater. Planned obselence is work.

Well it is all back together now but too cold to try out. Will do so tomorrow and get her going again. Then I need to change the oil, it is a four cycle engine of 50CC capacity. Works good when it is running. Lots of power.

Spring has sprung, grass cutting season is upon us once again. Never ending cycle . . .

Next Up . . .

I am next up on the cataract surgery path. We had joint eye appointments yesterday in Grapevine. Judie worked around her schedule to have a trip in May to Madison.

After we got her set up, then we had to set up my schedule. I will have the right eye done first, then after a month or so, the left eye. The right eye in the examination was very unstable.

The optometrist, Dr. Coldrick, said it was a level 2 to 3 grade now. The rating ranks from one to four. So it has reached the time to do it. When they do one eye then they do the other one right after it.

I unlike Judie will have Crystalens installed. She had ReSTOR which are alleged to be better for dry eyes. In my case, Crystalens is better for intermediate vision as well as night vision. I, of course, do not have dry eye issues as does Judie.

So late spring and early summer will be eye work for both of us. Judie's PRK is delayed until her Thyroid hormones are stabilized. That may take up to six months.

In my case, there is no follow on Lasik, Lasek or PRK necessary. While I have high levels of astigmatism, the "machines" indicate it is not a problem. So there is potential for me not to wear glasses again. If so, it will probably be reading glasses. I have worn glasses since I was thirteen, that is 58 years! I probably will be uncomfortable without them for some time - self conscious too.

Time ever marches on.

"Out and About"

Judie went for a ride yesterday, out and about so to speak. She did not venture out of the car, her car. I did the driving. We went all the way to Walgreen's to pick her prescription. On the way back we cruised through the neighborhood.

Lo and Behold we ran up upon a couple of her friends walking. So we stopped and she had a grand time talking to them. One had just returned from Christchurch, NZ and was carousing about that they just been in that cathedral that took a beating. Glad they had seen it and glad that they were never going back again. It seems that it is a 14 hour flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane, AU. That was very onerous for them.

They did enjoy the cruise from Australia over to New Zealand and back. And they were mesmerized by the thermal activity in New Zealand. Pretty, yet dangerous.

Another step to getting better. She is really getting tired of living in one room even though it has TV, computer and comfortable chairs. It is the limitations that restrain you that is so hard to take.

Hanging In There . . .

We are hanging in there regarding Judie's radioactive treatment. She has taken up residence in the den. Literally living in her Lazy Boy chair. She is really doing well considering the limitations placed upon her. No outside traffic, she can not go to Sonic for a Coke or the grocery store (which she hates anyway). We have to stay apart until the Isotope goes though at least one half life.

The half life is 8 days. She took 20 millicuries. So at the end of 8 days it will be down to 10 millicuries depending on how much her body retains. We can assume all of it is retained but who knows. Any rate she had a bad day with upset stomach but that could be the treatment or it could be Montezuma's Revenge. She was better yesterday.

Time is marching on, nothing can stop that but it is time after all. And it seems to drag when you are constrained as she is. Me, I bounce in and out of the garage working on Radio Control airplanes and running food errands. I bring her a Sonic Coke every now and then - that helps a little bit. I don't press her and she seems to really appreciate that.

Gotta go feed the birds.

"Its Begun"

Judie's treatment for Graves Disease has begun. We are isolated within the same house. We must stay apart due to the radio active Isotope of Iodine she took. The Thyroid Gland will collect up the Iodine from her entire system, and of course most if not all of it will be radio active.

The congregation of the Iodine in one spot kills off the Thyroid Gland. It is a slow treatment but other than being apart it is painless. It takes up to six months for it the kill off the Thyroid Gland.

She took a dose of 20 millicuries (That would be 20MCi). It has a half life of 8 days. So at the end of the week plus a day, it will be halved. And eight days later halved again. She generally becomes safe after eight days but even safer after a total of 16 days. They will let her out of the house at the end of 10 or so days. As well all know nothing is perfect so 20 millicuries maybe a bit more or a bit less of Iodine, who really knows? So time is important element in the overall treatment. Right now, no visitors!

Just Checking . . .

I have been checking on ebenefits.va.gov and have seen little or no progress regarding my new claim with the VA. So I moved on the a Veterans Benefit Forum run by veterans not the government.

I learned that since the Secretary of VA determined that there were three new presumptive disabilities regarding Agent Orange that the VA has been swamped with claim actions. There was a court decision sometime ago and is now referred to as the Nehmer Stipulation. It makes the VA go back in time to check records, etc. regarding Agent Orange claims and determined that there were disabilities related to Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam (and curiously to Korea War too). I was a wash in the stuff exposed on the flight line in both DaNang and Bien Hoa. In the case of DaNang my roommate was a "Ranch Hand" pilot. Ranch Hand was the code name for the fellows that sprayed Agent Orange all over View Nam (and probably areas of Laos and Cambodia too).

Most of tour time in Viet Nam was at Bien Hoa Air Base which was adjacent to the "Iron Triangle." The Iron Triangle was an area of swamp, etc, part of the Mekong River delta zone of many square miles in size and infested with Viet Cong. So a lot of Agent Orange was sprayed there and I am sure a lot of it waifed over good old Bien Hoa where I lived for a year.

At any rate my Diabetes Type II is considered a Combat Related disability. And it has spawned other problems - cataracts and Neuropathy in both feet and left hand. These things will only get worse with time and of course Diabetes Type II is a life limiting disease with no known cure. So I just get to live with it. Maybe they will even award a Purple Heart in retrospect - not.

My combined service related and combat related disabilities have almost reached
100%. They are at 90%. The VA has a complicated rate table to make these determinations. So in fact I have 170% in total disabilities but when aggregated on the VA rate table it comes out to 90%. This table has been in existence since WW-1 and has historical roots all the way back to the Civil War. So it is a tried and true process, at least one that will not change anytime soon.

I made the mistake (well maybe not a mistake) and made a request to be determined as "unemployable." Age of course was not a consideration in such of a new rating. But the VA had a panel of doctors evaluated me in Sept of 2010 in regard to employablitiy. There was an Ophthalmologist, a Orthopedic Surgeon and a GP, each doing his on thing so to speak. The eye doctor said that my cataracts were a 1 on scale of 1 to 4, the Orthopedic Surgeon noted that my knees were popping and cracking, and recommended I stop walking as an exercise (I did not stop, I need to exercise regarding Diabetes and potential heart disease), and the GP did a number of BP tests (and I provided him with a list of my current medications) and other agility tests and the usual thumping and listening thing.

And I began the wait. Takes a while for things to percolate through the VA. About mid December I checked in with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), my on scene representatives. I am by the way a life member of the DAV. You know the DAV, they are Red Poppy people. At any rate I get a email from then saying they were doing a look see at Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD).

That is a new disability and it is another Agent Orange thing. Scared the crap out of me. I did the Internet search and found out that IHD was another name for Coronary Artery Disease. Ah ha - Cholesterol, etal, has risen its head. I have been treated for elements of CAD for years. Take blood pressure medication, two medications for Cholesterol and one for heart rate - that is four medications for CAD. So in the terms of the VA I have at least one MET for IHD. That on their basic table for IHD is a rate of 10% for the disability.

Could that drive my total disabilities to 100%? Perhaps. But the rub is that since the Secretary has added these three new disabilities to Agent Orange, there have been almost 90,000 cases to adjudicate in the Texas Department alone. Looks like I am in the middle of all of that hoopla. A veterans run forum, that is by us veterans and not the Government Veterans Administration, they indicate the VA can address about 1,500 to 2,300 cases per week. You do the math. I could be the middle of the summer before I get an answer. And they do it by date of application, so mine is September 15, 2010.

And what is worse is the bad weather shut them down. They lost a week of work time and probably gained as many new cases to evaluate/adjudicate. Its gonna be a long time this go round. On the other hand, since I made claims about high Chlorestorol way back in 1989, they may have to compensate to that date. That would be a nice piece of change and is totally tax free (state and federal).

As Hermine said in Harry Potter, "And now we wait."

This To Has Passed . . .

This to has passed. Yesterday it was 14.1 degrees at the early AM on our electronic reporting weather doda. It sends a signal from outside to inside and is displayed on Judie's desk. It is pretty reliable until the sun hits it and it heats up. But once back into the shadows reverts to its accurate reporting.

By noon yesterday the cold snap was broken, the winds were still up a bit and it was sort of brutal outside. By late afternoon, it was well above freezing at a toasty warm 37 degrees. And that meant more of the remaining ice/snow/sleet disappeared into the soil. Really the snow and sleet went away early due to the solar heating but the ice remained in spots here and there out of the direct sun light.

Today we will hear the gutters ringing with the remaining melt off water. What melted yesterday froze last night in nice slick spots. But that too will go away today. The temperature will be well above freezing day and night.

By tomorrow it is predicted that we will see 70 degrees F. And that will be most welcome.

But once again, good old "Global Warming" shows it was a colossal scam while we were shivering in out homes. The great inventor of the Internet, Al Gore, has had his reputation further tarnished. That fat fellow is living in humongous houses and flitting around in a jet, and tells us to conserve and stop making green house gases. He is excess green house gas in and of himself. Sure glad he was not elected to be President of the US.

Well, duh! What do you think trees and grasses need to convert to Oxygen, well it is carbon dioxide - the culprit green house gas so hated by Al Gore and his cronies. The meeting in Europe fell apart and the world recognized the silliness of it all. And if we did not have carbon dioxide we would be living on a big chunk of ice. Let nature take its course!

Hope everyone warms up.

Ho Humm . . .

Yes, that was the Super Bowl. Good in spots, sometimes great but otherwise just another football game.

Gloria Aguilera's rendition of the National Anthem was a sorry thing. Not only poorly done, screwed up lyrics to boot. Don't they audition those people before they turn them loose on the world? And while nice, I did not understand the America the Beautiful rendition before the National Anthem. It was sort of like, "Huh?"

I did not see the Sweet Pea stuff and I guess I did not miss anything.

I hope none of those people got paid anything to do their acts. They were sorry performers.

And even worse, the football players themselves. Such egos! Some held their right hands over their hearts during the America the Beautiful song, and totally ignored the National Anthem. Others were doing warm ups, jumping around and otherwise ignoring the National Anthem. Some did not seem to know what to do when.

The Commissioner needs to come down on those people. Its about respect people, respect for our troops overseas and at war. Respect for our nation and its heros past and present. These idiots can not see beyond their on egos. What a bunch of losers.

Ka - Boom . . .

Ka-boom, well at least I think it went ka-boom. After two days of less than 20 degrees F, I had a can of Diet Coke exploded in my Mountaineer.

I went out to go to the Post Office to mail stuff, the mail to go out had been building up and we kept missing the mail lady. And I had a bit of cabin fever too. So out to the vehicle I went.

I pulled open the driver's door. Yes, the handle worked, but the door was slightly frozen to the frame. So it took a little bit of effort to get the door open.

When I had the driver's door open, I saw this brown colored fluffy ice all over my seat and the other passenger seat. Then I looked up and it was all over the head liner. So I swept off the seats so I could sit without it melting and getting me wet.

I got a lot of Coke out but much was still stuck to the headliner.

About half way to the PO, I noticed it was melting and being absorbed by the headliner.

Later I discovered the Coke can. The entire top was blown off. The pop top seal did not go, the seal around the entire top gave up the ghost.

Well there you have it, do not leave unopened Coke cans in your car outside in severee cold weather. Oh yes, the Mountaineer started right of way and the drive, while slow and careful, was uneventful.

Now up to 30 degrees today (Friday - Feb 4, 2011). Quite balmy, yes?