Bayou Segnette State Park, Westwego, Louisiana
The remaining eleven chapters of Genesis belong to Joseph. I’m not sure how much I’ll put in the blog. Probably most – if not all, knowing me. 😊
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. ~ Genesis 39:1 Slavery. Slave. According to dictionary.com: “a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another and forced to provide unpaid labor; a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person.” Slavery has been around for centuries. Almost since the beginning of humanity. I doubt that any race has ever been totally immune to it. Men, women and children have been, and still are, enslaved. Every time a country has been conquered, its people are usually enslaved, or sold. Even after our fledgling country won our Revolutionary War against Britain – and at least one of the reasons for the War of 1812, was the fact that our men were captured at sea, or even on shore, and press-ganged (enslaved) onto British ships and forced to serve the British Navy. They were also beaten severely into submission, or tortured in other horrific ways. Slavery is acknowledged throughout Scripture – in both the Old and New Testaments. At times, the Israelites sold themselves into slavery. In various forms of the word, it’s mentioned at least 182 times in at least 20 books. Never is it said that it’s okay. Simply that it was a fact of life. And the apostle Paul admonishes slave owners to treat their slaves fairly and kind; and slaves are to respect and obey their owners. Joseph is now a slave with no hope of release.
On the 1st, it was blustery, but warm. The air – and the meteorologists – held the promise of rain. For the next three days. Back home in Ohio, our family and friends are promised an uncertain forecast of rain, freezing rain (up to 2”!), sleet and copious amounts of snow. Be safe loved ones!
Blaine’s bite marks became four infected ‘pimples’ and his foot continued to swell. We pierced them and applied peroxide, and later, a baking soda paste, which seemed to help more than the peroxide. A couple of days later and all he has to show for it is a red spot at each place. What in the world caused it, we have no idea! Secretly, I was kinda glad it wasn’t me for a change. 😊
I spent these four days trying desperately to get caught up on this blog, as well as making and receiving a plethora of calls and texts.
During a break from the rain, I discovered a boardwalk here in the campground. It actually went to the bath/laundry room, but the reason I mention it is because of the storm damage all along the way. Hurricane Ida really did a lot of damage here.
Blaine baked Krusteez cranberry orange muffins one day, and they disappeared before the rain. They’re very good! Just not as good as good as beignets. lol We did see a boxed mix in the grocery store for Café du Monde’s, but since we didn’t care for theirs, we passed.
I fear I’m being phased out of the kitchen . . .
Another morning, we saw a real, live, honest-to-goodness actual bobcat walking across the street, through the neighbor’s back yard and into the brush! So very cool!!! We’ve never seen one before! It was very exciting – at least for us. 😊
That same morning, I was out walking between the rain showers and came upon a crawfish in the middle of the road. It definitely was not happy to see me nor did it care for my attempts at close-up photography! When I tried to walk around it, it followed me, reared up its 5” body and stood tall and proud, pinchers threatening!
Later that same morning, Blaine had plans to take off on his bike for a long ride. Just as he was ready to set out, it began raining again, so he had to postpone, but it wasn’t long before he was able to leave. He returned just before the drops began falling once again.
Then it was laundry day, and Popeye’s for lunch because my brother, Lance insisted that they have the best chicken sandwiches. We toyed with the idea of becoming food critics once again; purchasing a sandwich from both Popeye’s and KFC, but since we’ve been pretty lethargic these past days, we decided against it. It was an experience, that’s for sure. You could go inside the building (with a mask and shot card), but the dining room was closed, so I waited in the Jeep. The woman behind him was frustrating the cashier, asking to use one coupon on both orders, and then asking for mac and cheese without the cheese. Of course, the mac and cheese comes to them already made, so that was impossible. Blaine didn’t know the outcome, because as they were filling his order, he requested hot fries because the ones they tried to give him had been sitting out for quite some time. The girl copped an attitude, throwing the fries back to the waiting area and got him some new ones, but they were mostly all dumped in the bottom of our bag. Good grief! The sandwich was just okay. Certainly not something we’d rave over. Sorry, Lance. Of course, he’d say we have to buy them at a specific place he knows of. 😊
The rain pelted us for three days. Practically non-stop and fairly heavy for 18 hours, highlighted by occasional snaps of lightning and claps of thunder. By Friday morning, when our loved ones were steeped in a foot-and-a-half of snow (on top of what they already had), we felt like the Ark on top of Mt Ararat. We were completely surrounded by water! Not up to our doorstep, but still. There were puddles, small and large ponds, and even filling up in the brush on either side of us. Our electric cords are laying in water, and Blaine assured me that it’s okay. It’s also windy – 12-15mph. Guess that’s life in the bayou! In addition, we went from mild temperatures to near freezing overnight.
See the water pouring off our slide topper?
It ran like that for hours!
Speaking of lightning. The Weather Channel (we’ve been watching that a lot the past few days 😊) announced it was just certified that a world record for the longest bolt of lightning lit up the sky across three states on April 29, 2020; although The Weather Channel made it sound like it’d just happened the night before. The bolt extended a total of 477.2 miles and spread across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Most lightning strikes only cover and average of ten miles.
On Friday afternoon, we donned our seldom used raincoats and walked in the rain around the campground loop just to get out and get some fresh air and exercise. We could’ve almost kayaked around it there was so much standing water! Even the wading birds were strutting around at campsites.
Tomorrow is moving day, and the weather forecast is chilly (high of 43), but full sun. Blaine will be ecstatic, but I will probably be squinting a lot – even with sunglasses. Those of you with light sensitivity will understand. 😊
It used to be a staple in our home because it was inexpensive to make.
Not anymore! That 1 1/2# of hamburger cost us about $8!! Can you believe it?!?
I added extra bread to stretch it for two full meals.
MOM’S SWEET AND SOUR MEATLOAF
1 ½ # hamburger
6 slices any bread, chopped very small
1 egg
½ C. water
1/3 C. onion, diced
Mix well together, form into loaf shape and place in loaf pan.
Sauce: DON’T DOUBLE unless you double meatloaf
1 C. brown sugar
1 ½ C. ketchup
½ C. vinegar
3 t. dry mustard
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix sauce ingredients well and pour over meatloaf.
Bake for 1 hour.
One pound hamburger serves 4-6
HINT: I never make less than 2 pounds at a time. Everyone always wants leftovers, and I like to have a leftover meatloaf sandwich – just sliced meatloaf, a bit of sauce between two slices of bread. It’s good eaten cold or warm!