Our Second Bird has left the Nest

A new day has dawned both literally and figuratively.  I took a vacation day today, but not to relax.  We had important business to attend to.  We got the cow and goat milked and all the animals in the barnyard fed and watered and then started our day.  Today we're moving Russ into the dorms at LSU as he'll be a freshman there this Fall majoring in Animal Science in the College of Agriculture.  Laura Lee will be moving out of the dorms and into a house and will be starting her sophomore year there as well. Whoa!  Two 'kids' in college. Only one left at home.

The morning sun peeking out from behind the hay bales

We loaded Russ' truck with all of his belongings and he backed out of the garage.

Loaded down truck

We also loaded down Laura's car and our other car with all of her stuff.

Loaded down car

We headed off to Baton Rouge in caravan-type fashion with Laura Lee leading the way, followed by Russ and I was the caboose.  Russ' truck sort of looked like the Clampett's jalopey truck in the photo below.  We had it loaded pretty heavy and used ropes to tie everything down.

Photo Credit

We only had one little issue on the trek to the capitol city.  Somewhere around Crowley as we were doing 70 mph down I-10, the back cushion of the sofa blew out of the back of Russ' truck.  Darn it!  The vehicle in front of me swerved to miss it, I did likewise, but the driver behind me had slow reflexes and hit the cushion head-on.  I saw the stuffing fly!

A sofa without a cushion is like Rice without Gravy, bacon without eggs, Simon without Garfunkel, or Batman without Robin.  So I got off on the next exit, drove back west to the next exit, re-entered the Interstate, located the injured cushion, and pulled over with my flashers on to see if I could administer CPR. The cushion will require some TLC and many stitches, but will recover (no pun intended!).  At least good enough to be used by some college students.

We arrived on campus without further excitement and pulled up to Russ' dorm.  I must say I was impressed with the University for making the moving in process efficient.  There were at least twice as many cars on campus (students & parents helping move in) resulting in a major traffic jam, but students associated with residence housing assisted in directing students to their respective dorms.  As we all pulled up in front of the dorm, student volunteers helped unload the vehicle and stack everything on the sidewalk so that the driver could move the vehicle quickly and park, enabling other 'Clampett jalopeys' to do likewise.

Welcome, Russ!

But that was not all.  Other students appeared out of nowhere to help.  They were mobilized to pick up all the refrigerators, clothes, and other items and carry it up to the students' dorm room.  Various LSU athletes were doing this.  I thought it was a very cool thing.  Russ had 3 football players that helped him move his stuff up.  They were polite and helpful. One of the players that helped Russ was #18 Lamin Barrow.  Read the quote below about #18.  I'd say the Tigers made a good choice for #18 as Lamin was doing a good deed 'off the field' yesterday!

The wearing of No. 18 is a special honor within LSU’s program. The tradition dates back 10 years to quarterback Matt Mauck, who was able to lead the Tigers to victory in the 2003 BCS National Championship Game. The player bestowed the honor is supposed to uphold the university’s values both on and off the field.  Barrow is an absolute stud linebacker. He was second on the team with 104 total tackles in 2012 and is considered a first round NFL draft prospect. Source: Yardbarker.com

Here is Russ in front of his dorm.  It is a dorm that is entirely dedicated to Agriculture Majors.  I looked around and couldn't find a cow or chicken in sight, though.  Strange.

Russ' new home

We quickly got him all situated and posed for a family photo or two in his room.

A serious one

And not so serious!

As we walked to the LSU Police Department to get a parking permit for Russ' truck, we walked directly in front of the Military Science building and Benjamin posed in front of one of two cannons that line each side of the entrance that have particular historical significance.  William Tecumseh Sherman (yes, that Sherman), believe it or not, was the First Superintendent of Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy back in 1859.  This would later become LSU.  In 1861, Sherman resigned, returned to the North and participated in the War of Northern Aggression :).  After the war General Sherman donated two cannons to the Institution that had been captured from Confederates at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.  These cannons were used to start the Civil War.  Benjamin poses with one of these cannons.  Very cool!

Benjamin the Cannoneer

The next two photos should probably be subtitled, "The Coke Man Needs a Raise!"  In the Barnes & Noble bookstore on campus, I took a picture of Benjamin in front of a display made of varying 12 packs of soft drinks.  Look at the detail of the football, with laces, going through the goal posts and the Stadium.

Nicely done, Coke Man!

As we were about to head home, I took a photo of Russ out on the back 'porch' of his dorm with a view of one of the lakes.  There are geese and ducks out there that people were feeding, which reminded me that we would need to head home to feed our chickens and turkeys and cows and goats.  Which also reminded me that I would be missing the services of my right-hand man on the farm:(

We started the day with a new, hopeful day rising.  A day opening a new chapter in the lives of our kids and one bringing change around our home.  As the sun sets, it also closes a chapter of our lives.  Without being overly dramatic, it's hard when your little birds take flight and leave the nest. 

Cypress trees on the lake

Geaux get 'em, Russ!  Geaux get 'em Laura Lee!