Happy Mardi Gras

MARDI GRAS!!

What fun, what joy – who am I, where I be?  The joy of Carnival, as illustrated in the New Orleans Times/Picayune newspaper.

SPRING: NOT QUITE SPRUNG

In NorthEast Alabama life may fall into one of three categories:
Town/City Life:  Lots of cars, restaurants, WalMart.
County Life: You can see the houses of your neighbors but cannot hit them with a thrown rock.
Country Life:  You cannot see your neighbor's house.  You can see little but fields/woods and probably own a tractor.  In Spring/Summer you can see even less because of the leaves, flowers and chipmunks.

We live in the county and can see our neighbors' houses.  Usually.

Russian Olympic Mascot.

I'm with he Russians, I think it's cute.

Mardi Gras starts.  Yuk.

During Mardi Gras - Starting February 26 - moving about the French Quarter in New Orleans - especially Bourbon Street - is like being in a seven and a half block long, crowded elevator.  Filled with drunks.  The only way for a cop to get from place to place in an emergency is to get behind a police horse.  They move the crowds out of the way very nicely.  One may, however, hear the occasional high-pitched scream - "Ohshitgoddamnhesteppedonmyfoooot!"  Pity.

One also meets the odd college twit who wants to ride a police horse.  "You don't understand, officer.  I'm an equestrian."  He is then - it's almost always male - told what he really is, and is gently shoved back into the ranks of the milling crowd.

Above is a photo from the New Orleans Times Picayune, and displays some of the horses.  I've no idea who the guy on the bicycle is. Maybe he's trying to get out of the way before he hears multiple voices shout, "CHARGE!"

His obamaship warns the Egyptian president not to fire on peaceful demonstrators.  This means, I must assume, those peaceful demonstrators who are trying to burn the country to the ground.  Our royal con man is in a quandary.  Anything he does is going to be wrong, even after he's broadly indicated that his word is law to the world.  Maybe he's getting the hint that what he does/says means little in the real world.

I don't really know what his problem is.  These are just some of those peace loving Arabs he talks about, now and then.

Photo: Fox News

WINTER

Front yard of the manse WoFat – January 10, 2011.  This is Alabama!  How do people live like this all winter?

I could not live "Up North."  No way!

My cats and dogs demand I bring back Summer.  The think I'm in charge of the weather.  Sigh.