Something Old, Something New

Let's start with something new.  When I'm traveling for work, I often pull off I-10 to fill up with gas at a station in the small town of Lacassine, Louisiana.  The station is local, new, clean, and the people running it are friendly.  There is a restaurant associated with it called, "The Dairy Barn," and they serve good food, like fried shrimp poboys, fried pickles and milkshakes.

Something caught my eye in the back of the station and I drove around back.  Something new, indeed.  A 16 bay charging station for electric vehicles.  I've not seen a bigger one, although I admit, I don't see that many charging stations around.  In my neck of the woods, there aren't a whole lot of Electric Vehicles on the road.

Progress, I guess.  Things keep moving forward and moving quickly.  I backed out of there and decided before driving home, I'd motor a few miles south.  Not far at all from the progress is a place I like to go where time almost seems to stand still.  Lorrain Bridge.

Lorrain Bridge is named after the Lorrain family that moved to the area from France.  In 1895 it was originally built as a wooden drawbridge.  It connects Jefferson Davis Parish and Calcasieu Parish and enabled farmers to bring their crops and cattle to market and to serve a local sawmill.  It is on the list to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The drawbridge was taken down in 1955 and was later put out of service in 1998.  In 2004 it was rebuilt, fortunately.  Many local people drive out to the bridge.  It is a favorite place to take graduation photos, Family Christmas Cards, and prom photos.

As quickly as time seems to move, I have a theory that some people have a nostalgic hankering for a time when things moved slow.  Lorrain Bridge is the place to find exactly that.  Bayou Lacassine lazily sits beneath it.  You can't really call it flowing.  Its murky and muddy waters slowly creep into the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge.

You can look over the rails and see alligators waiting for lunch and watch the occasional catfish surface.  Spanish Moss drapes from the cypress trees that line the banks of the bayou.  There is a public boat launch and a park with picnic tables where you can slow things down a bit from the hurried pace of I-10 only a few miles to the north.

It's as if two worlds are colliding.  The paved super highway that never sleeps and the old dirt road just on the east side of the Lorrain Bridge.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."  -- Robert Frost

As Slow as Molasses

I haven't looked at rainfall totals for the year yet, so it is too early to draw any conclusions, but I can tell you this: We had a VERY wet September.  October is usually our driest month of the year, but not this year.  It seems the ground will never dry up!  It has really delayed me from getting in the garden, working up the soil and getting the fall crops planted.  Comparing with previous years, at this time the crops are already growing nicely.  Not this year!  They aren't even in the ground!  My garden progress is moving slower than molasses in the wintertime.

Image Credit

As the clock ticks and the days get shorter, I have fewer and fewer hours of daylight to get things done in the afternoon.  On about 20% of the garden, I have to dig sweet potatoes prior to pulling up rows and planting.  That has been priority 1.  Each afternoon when I get home, I've been pulling up sweet potato vines to feed to the cows and have been turning over the soil with a heavy garden fork and harvesting sweet potatoes.  I've been digging until I can't see any more.  I think I should be able to finish tomorrow night or Saturday morning. 

I'll post photos of the garden and the progress that gets done.  The weather is supposed to (finally) clear up and get nice this weekend.  I'm looking forward to getting everything done.  I'll take lots of photos and will have plenty (I hope) to talk about next week.