Back in Hammond, LA and a little leftover from Leesville

So, there we are, once again, at our favorite Bayou at Hidden Oaks Campground in Hammond.

We picked ourselves one of the nice spots we like, C1, one we've previously been in, and are all  hooked up and settled in again.

Our travels on the way back from Leesville went a lot smoother than our way up, and except for some heavy traffic around Baton Rouge, we had an uneventful ride.

But let me backtrack a little, because the weekend before we left, we went to the Leesville Mayfest and I took some pics that I haven't shown yet.

           

It was a beautiful 'summery' evening and there were a lot of people around ...

Booths were set up all along main street, roughly divided in three groups, arts and crafts, food and more 'commercial' vendors ...

   

     

                                   

A band was playing, one of several scheduled for the evening ...

The setting sun gave a nice glow to the old Courthouse ...

Unfortunately, or probably it was a good thing, we had eaten before we left, so we managed to not pig out on something disgustingly fried , greasy or sugary ...

We strolled through a private car show. There was going to be an old timer parade the next day, but we didn't go back for it.

All in all, a typical 'small town USA' event ...

The next day we golfed our last round together at the municipal, and James had one last round with the 'old fart team' on Wednesday:

Always easy to spot while on the course ... he's the (only) guy with a cowboy hat ...

These five weeks sure went by quickly. I really enjoyed our stay here, largely because I could walk to the golf course and golf whenever I wanted. I didn't think I'd like it so much but it's actually kind-a fun to play by yourself ...
The campground was nice and quiet and Pat and Phil, the owners, were really sweet people. One thing we're not gonna miss ... that blasted TRAIN!! Man, that thing was LOUD!!

Breaking up in Leesville ...

And all set up In Hammond ...

OK, fast forward to Hammond...
We're so very lucky that the weather is still a lot cooler, and a lot less humid, than normal for this time of the year (high 70's-low 80's). 
It's been just about perfect, and we really enjoy being able to 'live' outside most of the time and have coffee, happy hour and our meals outside! 

Merlin agrees. He loves the outside .. especially when there's a BBQ!

The gas station/grocery store here at the corner in Robert sells 'house-made' Bread pudding. It didn't take James long to disappear to 'gas up the car' and to come back with a big slice!

                                                           It might be the Whiskey sauce ...

I'll end with a pic of our Birthday Boy:

He turned 14 this week so I decorated his 'box'. He wasn't impressed ...

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

No clue what kind of a blossom tree this is ... just that it's pretty

Well ... I also have no clue what to write about this time. There's absolutely nothing happening at the moment, sooooo ....

Oh wait, it was my birthday! Another one. Yahoo ... !

And this time James didn't forget:

... and he made sure I didn't either! 

He also took me out for Sushi for dinner:

It was rather delicious!

Birthdays are of course also reminders of checking your drivers license (well, here in the US it is), and mine actually expired this year so I started the on-line renewal process.
Guess what? I wasn't eligible! To renew online you have to be an American Citizen. 
And I'm not. Ha!
So, I had to go to a DMV 'in person'. Fortunately, we're right at the Texas state border here, so we drove to Jasper, TX, only about 45 minutes away.

Well, the picture could be worse ...

I'd tried to make an appointment since DMV's are usually packed and waiting lines can be crazy long, but this DMV didn't have that option. I shouldn't have worried though because we were the only ones in there and after filling out the paperwork, taking fingerprints and a picture we were out of the door in 20 minutes! 
Sweet, I'm glad that's over until 2023.

Like I mentioned, not much to talk about. I'm still golfing every other day and enjoying my walks in between.
I'm not finding too much interesting wildlife around here, but here's a few:

This little guy is actually quite big for a squirrel, almost like a Fox Squirrel, but he's completely black, which I've never seen before.
Turns out he's a common Eastern Grey Squirrel, but he's a very UN-common black one.
He lives somewhere in the Pines around the RV and I see him almost every day.

The small Woodpecker on the left is a (female)Downy Woodpecker and the cutey on the right a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher ...

  

The pond in front of me attracts lots of Dragonflies like this (unknown) one:

... and this Green Snake-tail

James has done some minor repairs on the RV, like this break-plug that engages the RV brakes. Can you say erosion? Wow! No wonder they didn't (make contact) work!

                                                      

We're still sort of on a diet (lost 8 pounds so far!) so I'm a little 'off' baking but when I noticed the other day that I was out of hot-dog buns ... I made them myself ... 

They came out OK, a little denser than I wanted, but they tasted pretty good.

I've also worked a little more on our 'going-North' itinerary. I'd ordered some brochures from the different states we're going to drive through and we pretty much have decided which route to take.

We're probably going to move back to Hammond this next weekend or shortly thereafter, where we're going to hang out for a couple of days or maybe a week, until James has closed off this last job with his boss and returned some tools. 

Than it's off to do some sight-seeing at the Mississippi coast!

I can't wait! "Places to see, things to do!"

You better watch those eggs!

Although Easter has already come and gone, I thought this card was too funny not to use!

Otherwise, our Easter was a quiet affair, as usual. We had some lamb (leg-steaks this time) for brunch and deviled eggs around happy hour, when we invited our neighbor over for a beer.

The town of Leesville is right next to a military 'post', Fort Polk, and a lot of guys live off base here at this RV Park. 

Some visit their families, if they have one, when they have some days off, or they'll come up every now and then to visit, but many are just by themselves most of the time.

Our neighbor's family is in Kentucky and he appreciated some time with 'a family' for Easter.

Like last year, I used some Mardi-Gras beads as decoration. I thought I had some other 'stuff' somewhere, but I guess I threw it away ... oh, well, this works too.

The weather is just perfect at the moment. Not too hot, around 80F, and not too humid .. yet ...

We try to eat outside when we can right now, because soon it will get too uncomfortable and we'll be forced to make a run for the AC!

I think he needs a shave and a haircut ...

My Surfinias (in the top of the pic) are not too happy. For some reason, mine are never abundantly overflowing their pots, like they do in the adds ...

High in the tree-tops the large (Southern) Magnolias are starting to bloom. I'll  have to wait until the lower ones will open up, to get some better shots of these gorgeous white flowers.

And these little pink fluff-balls are from a Mimosa variety! Their vines creep through the grass and are very prickly.

It's called Mimosa Pudica. 
Also called sensitive plant, sleepy plant, touch-me-not, or shy plant. It's leaves fold inward and droop as soon as it is touched and shaken, defending it-selves from harm, and than to re-open a few minutes later. How cool is that? 

This is a 'False Dandelion'. Since I cannot find any Daffodils around here (an Easter without daffodils? Gasp!), this 'weed' has to do for the cheery bright yellow that (for me) says, "it's Easter"!

A nice little surprise this week was this Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that I spotted one morning around the golf course!
I've seen one before, in the Texas Hill Country, and that's where they are fairly common. 
But over here they are quite rare, as for in the rest of the country, where they are basically non-existent.

        

Not the best shot, but isn't it a beauty? Look at that tail!

Well, it's a rather short post I'm afraid but I really don't have much else to write about. 
Things are cruising along on schedule, and without too many problems, over at James job-site and I'm filling my time rather happily and uneventfully with some walking an golfing and a little reading and spinning.

This is my cozy little 'window seat' where I spend most of my afternoons when it gets too warm outside.

Life is good!

It's that time of the year again, birds are singing everywhere, and somehow they're real loud over here! 
It probably helps that this part of Louisiana is very woodsy but I start to think the main reason they sing so loud is because they have to over-ride the horn of the train that blasts through the neighborhood at all hours of the day (and night!). Man, that thing is loud!
Why is it, that somehow there's always a train passing by any good campground worth it's salt?



Any-who, we'll survive ... The weather is mostly very mild, as in 'not hot yet', at the moment and I'm not complaining! For some reason we're below average for this time of the year. Yahoo!
I love the mornings best and especially my walks through the neighborhood.

Most of the days I walk over to the golf course and than walk around each 'loop' of 4 and 5 holes ... it's so pretty over there ...

   

Twice a week I actually golf 6 of the holes and most of the time I'm all by myself. I love a private golf course!

Trees are all leaving now and more and more flowers are starting to emerge:

This is a 'Horrible Thistle'. Seriously, that's it's real name!

The flower below is common but I don't know the name. I do know that's a giant bumblebee on it though!

It's been so pleasant that I even have been spinning outside for a couple of times!

But, it can't be wonderful all the time off course, and boy ... it sure does rain here on occasion! 
I'd hoped we got away from these downpours and, god forbid, the dreaded flooding, but what do you know ... I swear it followed us all the way up here!



I don't think I've ever experienced a thunderstorm that lasted this long. It 'thundered and lightened' all day long, from 11 o'clock in the morning until 11 at night! Unbelievable!



Somewhere in the afternoon 'a river started running through it', through our site, that is, leaving mud and debris all over the mat ...
Fortunately, most of the water rushed right past us and into the lake, which started to overfill, but no flooding, thank god!

Which was not the case at the store where James is working at ...  it sure did flood!

They 'only' got about 2 to 3 inches, but lost a day pumping the water out, mopping everything up, and raising materials like drywall and boards up against the wall so they could dry out (I even got recruited). Fortunately, other than a few battery chargers that died, most of his other tools survived.

The little bridge over the drainage canal next to the store had to be closed of for a while since it was impassable.

And the porta-potty James had rented for duration of the job and had placed in front of the store, must have floated away and has completely disappeared, and this dumpster appeared from somewhere ... ?

Art. The power of water ...

All in all we were lucky though, since close-by Alexandria had a tornado touch down, Anacocco, just down the road, had some severe flooding and the Tangipahoa River at Hidden Oaks in Hammond rose once again to over 16,5'! 

Needless to say, I've been getting a little more serious in planning our way 'out of here' (just kidding)!

But I've started to look into which areas we want to explore in and around Wisconsin and Michigan, and the best campgrounds to stay at and golf courses to play ...

We've started to eat a little different lately, mainly because I really need to loose some inches of my 'over-forty' belly-pouch, so we're pretty much sticking to only 2 meals a day and I've completely sworn off sugar. 
It's not too bad so far, I'm not getting too hungry and so far I've lost 5 pounds so ... it's working!

I'm still using my Instant Pot a lot and made this delicious Corned Beef for Saint Patrick's day

Once a week we break down though and we head over to 'Lucky Donuts', where we indulge in one of their delicious fresh-baked creations (James favors the apple fritters and I just love their simple glazed ones):

Oh man, do they taste heavenly after a week of 'no sugar'!