Thursday was a good day. Lisa woke first and got ready for work. I woke a bit later. We ate oatmeal together. Then she left for work and I walked block to Izzy’s house to feed and water his dog while he is out of town. When I got back to the house I sat on the front porch and read for a while, giving the dew time to depart from the grass.

At about 9 AM I pulled out the lawn mower and began cutting the yard. My neighbour Stan and his eldest son were doing yard work already when I got started. Stan saw that I was working with only one good hand, so he and his son finished their yard and started on my also. I cut about half the yard and Tyler did the rest, while Stan edged for me. Stan and his family are all good Christian people (Southern Baptists), and you can’t ask for better neighbours.

After the yard work was finished, I came inside and spent time with the boys. I had promised them Sonic for lunch, so we piled into the truck and drove to Sonic to get our food.

In the early afternoon Gary J. came over for a visit on the porch. While we were visiting, Lisa returned home. She and the boys headed of to the community swimming pool at park nearby. After Gary left, I ran an errand and meet Lisa. The boys were done swimming, but they wanted to play at the park. Lisa came home to cleanup and I watched the boys at the park.

After our park time we had supper at Chili’s Restaurant. We came home and watched a little TV. MK came over a little after nine. He and I enjoyed a very good California wine, along with some pepper jack cheese, on the front porch. After that we walked around the neighbourhood and prayed a good while.

I have not mentioned my reding much lately, so let me do so now. As is the norm, I am reading too many books at one time. Therefore, I don't finish any of them quickly and I read very slow even when reading one book. I am also listening to audio books.

I just finished the audio book Up From Slavery, the autobiography of Booker T. Washington. I boot the printed version several years ago and had but it on my "to read" list. I found the audio book at the library eagerly checked it out.

This is a great book by a very good and very remarkable man. I wish every American, especially every Southerner (black, white and what ever) would read this book.

I'm currnetly reading a book on the Founding Fathers, a book on the Punic Wars and Shakespeare's Henry V. I am listening to Peggy Noonan's biography of Pope John Paul II.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I’ve still not written a detailed entry about our trip to Ireland and I may never do so. Since returning from Ireland I’ve written a number of letters to my son Christian, who is in Navy boot camp. I’ve written Christian two or three letters a week since he we recieved his Navy address.

I’ve also written a few letters to a lady in Colorado, who is a graduate student at a Roman Catholic College out there. She was recommended to me as an apologist of the Catholic faith by the school. This happened when I tried to contact one of her professors. I had watched a program on EWTN and I was impressed with the professor (who's name escapes me at this moment). I’ve exchanged several letters with Aimee (the lady mentioned above).

I had minor surgery on my left hand last Tuesday. The doctor removed a cyst that has been bothering me for some time. It hurt when I did work with my left hand, but was mostly a nuisance. So my left hand is all bandaged and I’m not supposed to use it for three weeks.

My typing skills already suck and now, with my left hand bandaged I can only use my index finger. That makes typing very tedious, but I will “endeavour to persevere” (To quote Chief Dan George in the movie Outlaw Josey Wales) in typing letters and (hopefully) for the blog as well.

Our family joined the SPAR (Sulphur Parks and Recreation). They have a very nice centre, which includes indoor basketball courts, 2 racquetball courts, an indoor track, workout equipment room, Olympic size pool and more. I’ve used the racquetball courts several times and I’ve been using the pool also. I need to get back in shape and loose at least 10 bounds.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Christian is still in Navy boot camp and he should be finishing up sometime in mid July. I'm hoping that one of us can go to the graduation ceremony at the completion of boot camp. This picture is of Christian saying goodbye to his sister on the morning he left for the Navy.

I have to cut grass before the afternoon showers arrive, otherwise my grass will get out of control. Therefore this will only be a short note. The boys are fine and I managed to take them and some playmates swimming at my sister's pond last week. They had a good time. On Friday MK and I took them to the Sulphur water park. Saturday I worked around the house and on Sunday I had to work OT at the refinery.

I do hope to elaborate about our trip to Ireland as soon as I make some time. My writing time has been mostly spent writing letters to Christian. I have also spent some time exchanging emails with a Catholic Lady, who is good apologist RCC, about the Christian faith.

Here is another picture from the Cliffs of Moher. This is my beautiful daughter and me. Notice we have the same style of hat. She's had her's for a long time and I bought mine will visiting the cliffs. It kept my head both warm and dry that day.

My daughter should be graduating from McNeese next year. Yeahhh!!!

Well, Im off to work, and when I finish the yard I will pour myself a Guinness to cool off.

Sláinte,

Kenith

I will not be writing about our visit to Ireland yet. Something much more important happened today. Our oldest son left home for Navy boot camp.

Last night in his honour the family went to Outback Steakhouse. After that He and I went to O.B.'s for a beer, where a bunch of his friends converged to say goodbye. LP went to meet him there for a few minutes, after I got home.

This morning, Morgan, LP, Christian and I at an early lunch at KD's and then we went to the Navy recruiters dropped him office. We said our goodbyes, hugged (a few tears were shed) then he went off excited to be heading to the Navy.

I now know how my folks must have felt when I left for the Navy 29 years ago. I handled today's goodbye very well, but as time progressed I've experienced an increasing of melancholy and sadness that my son is no longer here. I already miss him terribly, but I am also proud that he has chosen to serve in the Navy. It was a good experience for me; I grew up a lot during my years of military service. I think this will be good for my son also.

I will always be his dad and he will always be my son. I love him dearly.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Ps. The picture of Christian an me above was taken last week at a Pub in Doolin, Ireland. We ate and had a Guinness there after our visit to the Cliffs of Moher.

We have returned from Ireland and I have started downloading pictures to Photobucket. Some are at Lisdonagh House and others are here. It will take me a while to download all of them.

I will be writing about the trip as soon as I can get caught up here at home.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

My trip to Washington DC is over. I arrived back home Thursday afternoon, in time to eat a late lunch with Lisa and pick the boys up from school. With that done I went home and took a nap. I had been up since 2:30 AM and need some rest.

My plane from Houston to DC ran late. At the last minute they had to switch planes because the plane we were to take had ingested a bird on landing and that engine was running was running hot. The plane switch put us about an hour late taking off. The flight was a good one. I sat next to a retired Air Force pilot who was going to Maryland to visit his daughter’s family which included grandchildren.

I arrived at Baltimore/Washington airport after 10:30, by the time I got my bag and found a shuttle to the hotel it was 11:30. The shuttle ride took almost two hours, but it was interesting. One of person on the shuttle was a soldier returning to Walter Reed Army Hospital. He was a young soldier, a member of the Missouri National Guard, who had been wounded in Iraq by a road side bomb.

The soldier had been a Walter Reed for four months and it looked as though he was going to be there for a long time to come. He still had pins and other objects protruding out of the lower part of one leg. His second leg and his arms were terribly scarred. The solder was in good spirits and spoke a good deal and answered our questions as we meandered through the streets of DC.

After dropping the soldier at Walter Reed I was taken to my hotel, the Marriott at Wardman Park. By the time I had checked in, gotten to my room and showered, it was after 1:30 AM. I set a wakeup call for 6:30 and dragged myself into bed. I crawled from bed, still very tired. I decided to walk down to the bottom of the hill the Marriott was situated on to find breakfast. The front of the hotel was beautifully landscaped. There were thousands of tulips planted and they were all in full bloom. What a beautiful sight. It brightened my day to walk among them.

After a quick breakfast, I took the longer route back to the hotel, so that I could enjoy the flowers some more. Then it was time to start work. Our union business began at eight. Our local union sent Bruce G. and me here on union business. Bruce had taken George, his 13 year old son, with him to this event. We spent some time going over union issues, then we caught the metro and went to the House and Senate office buildings to meet with Louisiana representatives and senators (mostly with a member of their staff.

I got separated from Bruce and his son after we had met with a member of Senator Landrieu’s office. We had to meeting with the union at 4:30, and I had a little time to kill, so I ran (literally) down Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues to the National Archive Building. I had promised myself that I would make every effort to see the Constitution on this trip to DC. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are all housed in the National Archives.

I was AWED to be in the presence of these great documents. Wow. I was overawed to be so close and to see with my own eyes these great items of American liberty. I’ve read them and loved them; I have studied them and have read so much about them the men who gave them to us. It was, for me, the fulfilment of a dream.

There was another bonus. At the archives is an ancient copy of the Magna Carta, it is a great, great grandfather to our documents of political liberty. Our own liberty is a direct heir of the principles that were established at Runnymede, when King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215.

After paying homage to the great documents, I returned to Capitol Hill for our union rally. I found Bruce and George there. When all was over we headed back to the Marriott. Before climbing hill to the hotel, we stopped for a beer at one of the restaurants near by.

Not far from the hotel are a number of ethnic restaurants. After I cleaned up I ventured out once more and decided to have my supper at a Thai restaurant. My waitress was a young lady who had recently emigrated from Thailand. I differed to her in choosing my food. The main course was a spice seafood dish that contained scallops, muscles, calamari and shrimp and other items. My portion was sizable and it tasted very good. I washed it all down with a couple of bottles of Singha which is a Thai beer. It has potent 6% alcohol content. I found it to have an interesting flavour that went well with the spicy Thai food. After supper I was overly full, but my only plan was to go to my room and finish the, The Stuarts: A Study in English Kinship (the book I had picked for this trip).

Next morning we meet again at 8 AM. The union business finished about 1 PM. Bruce, George and I then took the Metro to Arlington. At Arlington National Cemetery Bruce and George took the bus tour, which I did last year, but I decided to walk. The grounds of Arlington are very pretty and serene. I made my way to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watched the changing of the guard. It is a solemn and sober sceptical that every American should experience.

After the Changing of the Guard I strolled over to Arlington House. George Washington Parke Custis choose a beautiful place to build this house. The view from the front porch is, even today, spectacular. The house is being renovated and all the furniture is gone, but you can still walk through it. I asked the park ranger what part of the house was it that Robert E. Lee made his decision to turn down the position as head of Union forces, and instead stand with his home state of Virginia in the then quickly approaching War of Northern Aggression, which is commonly referred to as the American Civil War.

After Arlington we visited the Korean, Vietnam, and World War II Memorials all of which are very nice. From the WWII Memorial we walked to the Washington Monument, which is impressive. Earlier we had also visited the shrine built to Lincoln.

After visiting the Washington Monument we caught the Metro back to Washington. Bruce and I had a beer at the hotel bar and then we parted company once more. I went down the hill to an Indian Restaurant. I decided on a lamb dish cooked with a lot of curry. It was very spice and very good. I had a 22 oz Taj Mahal, which is an Indian beer.

Deo Vindice,
Kenith

My post vacation week has been a good one for me. I, again, made it up to Longville earlier in the week; I also paid a visit on my grandfather and Mrs. Ester.

Sadly, most of the visit with Pawpaw and Ester was spent watching CNN and the then breaking story of the massacre at Virginia Tech. It’s hard for me to imagine how one person can do so much evil to fellow human beings. It is hard to imagine, but man has proven time and again that he can easily find the will to do evil to his fellow man. History and modern times are both replete with instances of human on human evil and cruelty.

On Tuesday evening a number of friends came over. We had a manly gathering on our front porch for discussion of current events, theology and whatever other subject made its way onto the radar screen. Pastor Mark, MK, Josh P. and I sat around a fire, snacked on cheese (smoked Gouda and Pepper Jack). MK and Josh both brought wine with them. We consumed two bottles of wine, ate most of the cheese, there were a few cigars smoked and a couple of other drinks consumed during our visit. It was a good time.

Three of the four present (MK, Josh, me) are former Roman Catholics, with majority Roman Catholic extended families. Pastor Mark was raised Lutheran. Today we all are strongly influenced by John Calvin and attend Presbyterian Churches. Josh is a Calvinistic Baptist. MK is a deacon at Bethel PCA ; I’m a former deacon there and Pastor Mark serves at Covenant PCA in Sulphur.

The last part of the week has been more difficult. I started graveyard shift on Wednesday night and Lisa went to New Orleans to help Yska with her daughter’s wedding. I spoke with her a little while ago and the wedding is over and they are at the reception. Because of my work and Lisa being gone, the boys are spending the weekend with Rhonda.

We have had good food here at work this week. On Wednesday Lisa brought us a goodly amount of boiled crawfish. They were leftover from a crawfish boil that Christian’s employer had put on that evening. When Lisa delivered them to the refinery they were still hot. They were big and boiled to perfection. Last night the refinery had a Shrimp boil at the Burton Coliseum. They did not forget those of us who had to work and we all got a platter of large well seasoned boiled shrimp.

Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day and Lisa is returning from New Orleans. I always miss her when either of us has to travel, which I will do Monday. I work off at 6 AM and have to catch a flight out of town for 1:30 PM. I’m going to Washington DC on union business. It is only for a few days so I should be back home on Thursday.

Bonjour,
Kenith

My vacation week is over (but I don't go back to work until Wednesday). It was a slow week. Mostly I did little jobs around the house.

Wednesday the boys and I went to Longville. Fishing was our main objective, but after a few hours and Sandy’s pond without a nibble, we decided to go my parents.

The weather was better and we did some more practice shooting with the .22 revolver and the CZ. My youngest was the only one interested. I worked with him and let him do most of the shooting. About mid afternoon we returned to my sister’s place and found a couple of the boy’s cousins were swimming at the pond.

So instead of fishing the boys joined their cousins swimming in the pond and I played fetch with Oakly. She loves playing fetch in water. Swimming sapped the energy out of both the dog and the boys, so I had a nice quiet drive home that evening.

Thursday night we attended a pre-Ireland supper at Archie’s Restaurant. The food was very good and there was plenty of wine. There were almost 20 of the Ireland party there. Woody gave out packets for everyone, so that we could have a bit more information about the trip. (NOTE: The gorgeous blond in the black dress on the right is my lovely wife. We will have been married for 24 years this Sept. :-)


Lisa helped her friend Iska with one of her projects most of the week. So she and Iska took a break and went out to D’Angelo’s Pizzaria Friday night and I stayed home with the boys.

Saturday morning Lisa had to work, and I spent much of my morning watching C-Span. The Iraqi ambassador to the US, Samir Sumaida’ie, was speaking at the Center for Strategic And International Studies. I found what he said to be extremely and forthright. I don’t think he soft peddled things. It was well worth watching.

I don’t see things in Iraq getting better anytime soon (decade or two). I hope I am wrong. I was not in favour of our intervention into Iraq and told my friend Tommy Keller that we would be bringing young Americans home in body bags for 50 years if we did intervene.

I have found it interesting that many of my pro-invasion friends now want to leave. I would like to see us get out but we have stirred up a hornet’s nest and I think it would be morally reprehensible (not to mention cowardly) to leave before a self-sustaining Iraqi government is established.

I don’t think Iraq was worth one American life, but we went in and now we have to finish what we started (IMHO). I think President Bush is crazy if he really believes that a “democracy” can be established there. We need a workable, mildly pro-Western, functioning government there and not some neo-con fantasy about democracy.

That is my commentary, we now return more mundane daily life.

The boys and I went with Morgan and Danny to the Railroad Festival in Dequincy. First we went to Danny’s parents home. This was my first time to me my daughter’s future in-laws. I knew that Morgan held them in high regard. They were very personable and I enjoyed meeting and conversing with them. Danny’s dad and I have a number of things in common. We have both enjoyed the hobby of making homemade wine and beer (this alone was a very good sign that this is a man of character). After leaving the Allain’s we were off to the fair. The boys rode on as many rides as I could afford and then they ate festival food. We then headed home.

We had an invitation from the Duncan’s to join them on their family Pizza night. Pastor Mark and Peggy had invited us over for Pizza before, but this was the first time that we could actually make it. I had assumed that we would be eating Pizza Hut or some other take out version of Pizza, but instead Peggy makes Pizza from Scratch. Mark said that it had been a tradition in their house for most of the marriage to have home made pizza on most Saturday evenings, and they often have guests (despite the fact that they have seven children of their own).

We enjoyed very good pizza. Peggy had made four types of Pizza, form cheese Pizza to Pizza with the works. They provided a good wine (a shiraz) and the conversation was very good as well.

This morning, Lisa woke early and prepared a roast for Sunday dinner. We attended Bethel; Pastor Steve preached from Jonah, and will be preaching through the book in the coming weeks.

Here is a picture of the bookshelves Lisa had built for me for my birthday. They don’t hold all my books, but they do hold most of them. We are going to install a ladder like the one you see on libraries as soon as finances allow.

Later,
Kenith

I am on vacation and the boys are out of school for Easter Holiday. We will spend most of that time around the house, but I do plan to take the boys fishing at least on day this week.

I worked off graveyard shift on Wednesday morning. That afternoon I drove to Lake Charles to a NRA event. Wayne LaPierre was in town, as was another high-ranking NRA representative. They were joined by Senator David Vitter and Rep. Bobby Jindal, all four men spoke to the audience and they showed a video about the seizure of guns from law abiding citizens. The message was “It can happen here! And did!” followed by and “this is what we have done to fix it so it does not happen again. It was interesting.

Saturday the little boys, Oakly (our Lab) and I went to Longville. I took my SKS and a couple of pistols to do a little shooting, but it was very cold (in South Louisiana) for April. We did shoot some pistols, but it started sleeting while we were outside and so we did not shoot for long.

My youngest son got a little practice with my .22 revolver.

I shot my CZ-52 and my dad shot the CZ and his snub-nose .38. We would have done some more shooting, but the weather was nasty, so we went back in doors and visited.

Sunday we went to Church, Woody and Elisabeth came to church as well. Our new pastor’s sermon had great content and his delivery was pretty good also. After church we came home for to a Resurrection Day feast.

Lisa had prepared a wonderful pot of chicken and sausage gumbo, I helped and made the potato salad. We had cold beer, garlic bread, apple pie and plenty of chocolate candies as well.

A number of Lisa’s family came over to sup with us. At dusk we built a fire in the fire pot of the front porch, and sat there to finish the day.

Coram Deo,

Kenith

Lisa and the little boys are in Galveston. They went to visit our friends Duke and Donna. Duke is there for his job and Donna their children went to meet him for the weekend. They invited Lisa and the boys to join them as well.

Morgan was in Texas today also. She and several friends went to an Astros game. I assume Christian is at work right now.

I too am at work. I am working the “board job.” For the past four years I’ve been pumped up to top operator on my shift, and I’ve not worked the board in that time. I’ve been on a crash course to learn how to run the board on our new unit, it is just a little over a year old and I have never worked it before until I was bounced back.

I much prefer to work in my current position. The Top Operator position is a lot more responsibility for very little extra compensation. Patrick was on special assignment for the past four years and I had been moved up to fill his spot. At the end of last year our supervisor (area manager) decided to bounce Patrick back for a little while. He then offered to return him to the set up position, but Patrick decided that he liked our current 5-4 version of the 12 hour shift and so he elected to stay as top and not move back to set up job.

I can not express how happy I am that Patrick elected to stay on as top. Its good for him and me, but I heard our area manager was both disappointed and a bit upset at Patrick. I don’t know if that is true, but I do know Patrick did a very good job in the position he was in.

The latest book that I’ve read is What the Bible Teaches about Guidance by Peter Bloomfield. A co-worker asked me if I would read it so we could discuss its contents. I had never heard of the book or the author before and I have a full plate already when it comes to reading, but I said ok.

It is a great book and very practical. I recommend it very highly. Bloomfield is a Presbyterian minister in Australia. He writes well and his examples and illustrations are superb.

On the listening front, I should finish A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson very soon. This is a good work. Bryson is witty and informative, but he does seem to have a healthy bit of Yankee disdain for both Southern people and culture. Still, it is enjoyable even with that and the several secular sermons that he gives during the book. Bryson's book should get a PG-13 rating for its language.

I went to the parish library Saturday. While there I bought a (used) book on Irish folklore and I also picked up a couple more audio books. I chose Ann Coulter’s book Godless: The Church of Liberalism and Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson.

I did listen to the first of the CD’s of Coulter’s book. What I’ve heard so far is interesting. Coulter has no problem calling a spade and spade. She has no problem going beyond that and referring to a spade as a damned shovel either. The book is witty and very irreverent. I wouldn't recommend it to someone interested in facts. It is written more like "pep rally literature." It seems obvious to me that her intent is to fire up the home team and infuriate the opposition. I think she has accomplished both those goals.

I laughed a lot. Her irreverence is funny and she does make some valid points, but this is not for the serious reader who wants greater understanding. Still it is not a long book and so I will continue listening. I am certain that I will enjoy the jabs that she’s throwing at the liberal elites who are in the media, Hollywood, and the Democratic party, even though her defence of the Republican Party may make me green around the gills from time to time.

Coulter does (so far) confuse true conservatism with the Republican Party. This is a gross distortion of reality. The Republican party is the party of neocons at best and this is not (IMHO) true conservatism. True conservatism is much closer to the libertarians than the modern Republican Party is today.

Her attacks on liberalism, while often overly simplistic and hyperbolic, do ring true at the core. However her equating conservatism with Republican Party is not accurate. Yes, the Republicans are more conservative than Democrates, and some of them are truely conservative, but this does not make the party conservative.

I have, at one time or another, belonged to each party. Today I belong to neither. When I was first able to vote, being a Louisiana conservative, I joined the Democratic Party, which was a conservative party long ago. In the 1980's I worked with a guy who had been a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, which nominated Jimmy Carter to be president. He had a copy of the Democratic Presidential Platform from that event. This excited me and I asked to borrow it. I read the Presidential Platform, returned it to its owner and then immediatly went the courthouse and changed my party affiliation to Republican.

I officially left the Republican Party two and a half years ago, disgusted by much of what the Republicans were doing, now that they had gained power in both houses of congress and the White House.

Bonjour,
Kenith

(Continued from 24 March)

Benny B. and I went into Philadelphia. Our goal was to tour a few museums. We visited the Art Museum and the Natural History Museum. Then we walked toward the older part of town. We stopped in at an Irish pub for a Guinness and Philly cheese steak after that we returned to the hotel.

Monday six of us took off early for New York. We visited the Statute of Liberty and then went on to China Town in search of knock off, brand name purses. My wife had heard about the purses that some folks brought back last year and she informed me that she wanted one also. It was certainly an adventure but would take too long to type out.

I did buy two back ally purses, one for the wife and one for our daughter. Most of the other guys had been given the same orders that I was given, so between the six of us we had between 12 to 16 purses.

The rest of the week was spent on very solid rescue training. The folks training at S.T.A.R.T. Rescue Training are very good. I have been doing this for about 13 years and Kurt at S.T.A.R.T. is one of the best trainers I’ve had.

After our week of training we flew back to Lake Charles. The flights were uneventful and we arrived here about 8:30 pm.

On Sunday Steve Wright was ordained and installed as Pastor of Bethel Presbyterian Church. It is so good to have a pastor. It has been a long time coming.

Last Friday, Lisa and Elisabeth went to Austin, TX for marriage stuff. I had to work so Lisa made arrangements for the boys to stay with ReauxReaux. I picked them up after work on Friday and went to see The Spencers: Theatre of Illusion which is part of this year’s Banners Series. They were good and the boys were very impressed.

After work Saturday I went to another Banners event. Ryan Brasseaux gave a lecture on the evolution of Cajun Music. This was followed by a Lost Bayou Ramblers Concert. Both the lecture and music were excellent. My cousin Chris and his wife Mindy came for the concert. They would have liked the lecture but could not make it because of a schedule conflict.

Because Lisa was in Austin I did not get to dance much, but Mindy and I did jitterbug to a few songs. The concert had free beer, provided by Budweiser. They had a number of micro brews that I had never tried before then. Food was also provided. We all passed a good time.

Lisa made it home around 8:30 last night. I am working off days today, and will not return to work until Friday night (unless the call me to work some OT).

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Much has transpired since the last time I posted on the blog.

Sunday March 4th was my dad and grandfather’s birthday (they are 70 and 87 years old). My mother called the house as we were getting ready for church, she called to inform me that my uncle, Walter (Bunny) had pasted away early that morning. Uncle Bunny was married to my dad’s sister and they lived in the New Orleans’ area. Bunny and Betty had been married for fifty years.

I already had to leave for New Orleans that afternoon to attend the Louisiana AFL-CIO annual convention. After Church we came home and I finished packing and headed for Metairie. I checked into the hotel three hours later. I discovered that I had forgotten my dress close that I planned to where for my uncle’s funeral. My hotel was near the Lakeside Mall, so I went there (JC Penneys) and bought a new suit, shirt and tie for the funeral.

With that done, I went to my Aunt Betty’s home in Destrehan. My parents were already there as were my all four of Betty and Bunny’s four sons and their families. I had not seen most of them for many years. I offered my sincere condolences and visited with them for a few hours before I headed back to the hotel.

Mom and dad did not want to impose on Betty or any of my cousins so I invited them to stay with me in Metairie. They accepted the invitation and soon after came to the hotel. The three of us slept in the one king size bed. I slept like a rock.

Our union meeting was just down the road at the Steam Fitters’ union hall. The day was passed listening to state and local politicians giving speeches and union leaders speaking on various topics. By mid-afternoon we were finished for the day and I headed back to Destrehan and my Aunt Betty’s place. I again spent a few hours with family members and returned to my hotel as did my parents.

The next morning, I checked out of the hotel and went to the union meeting. We heard a few more politicians and covered more union business. After lunch I noticed I had a low tire and decided call it a day. I aired up the tire and headed to Destrehan. I did not want a flat tire while in Metairie, so I did not attend the rest of the afternoon meetings.

I again met my parents at Aunt Betty’s house, from there we went to visit Aunt Linda. Linda is something else. She’s 87 and the care taker of her son’s 81 year old mother-in-law. Linda is very much a character, she has a heart of gold, but can says what she thinks and is never concerned about sparing feelings. She also has a vocabulary that would put a sailor to shame, as did her mother (my great grandmother).

We visited with Aunt Linda for a while. She gave us rooms for the night, and then we left to attend the wake for my uncle. The wake was at St. Charles Catholic Church in Destrehan and the deacon who spoke did a wonderful job. He and my dad were old friends and they had worked together a Dupont when we lived in Destrehan.

A saw lots of people that I had not seen in decades and was introduced to kin folk that I had never meet before then. After the wake we went back to Aunt Betty’s for supper, friends and neighbours provided tons of food for the family. After supper mom, dad and me returned to Aunt Linda. We talked some more. He all had a hilarious time and a good long overdue visit.

Next morning we got up, dressed for the funeral and returned to St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Destrehan. The funeral mass was very nice and again the Priest gave a very good homily/eulogy. Aunt Betty, her sons and their families all did ok during the funeral. They are a very close family. It is good that all the boys still live in the area.

When the funeral was concluded, I was in a hurry to get home to Lisa and the kids, so I did not bother to change and drove the three hours home in my suit.


I was only home for a couple of days (Thursday and Friday). Saturday morning I meet several members of our Rescue team at the airport at about 4:30. We were on our way to Philadelphia for our annual 40 hours rescue training. After arriving in Philly we rented a couple of minivans and checked into the Embassy Suites for the week. This was my first time to stay at Embassy Suites. It was nice. We all had our own room with a kitchenette and living room that were separate from the bedroom.

They had a free happy hour every evening, from 5:30 to 7:30 for hotel guests. We took advantage of this benefit, without anyone getting drunk or stupid. There was also a free breakfast that included a short order cook. They made great omelettes. I was surprised that this Northern hotel had grits, and (even more surprising) the grits were good. That was a major surprise, since most restaurant grits that I’ve eaten over the years have had the texture and taste of glue.

Sunday morning five of us worshipped at 10th Presbyterian Church. It was a good service. We were an ecumunically diverse group, one Presbyterian (me), two Baptists and two Roman Catholics. After worship service we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the crew. Six guys then headed out for Gettysburg. Benny and I decided to stay in and kick around in Philly. We had both been to Gettysburg during last trip to Philly. (To Be Continued…)

My days off this week have been filled with a variety of things. I am an instructor in a new ergonomics program at work titled “Safety in Motion” and I was assigned to teach an one hour session to part of the on coming shift (6:00 AM) on both Tuesday and Wednesday., so I spent two hours there (5:30-7:30) both days.

On Tuesday after finishing the course, I spent some time with Alvin, who is head of the Behaviour-Based Safety program at the refinery. After that I went to visit my grandfather, who will be 87 this coming Sunday. We had a good visit. He took me to his garden and picked me some carrots and also some oranges from one of his trees.

The afternoon was spent with home, some of it with Christian and then helping the little boys with their homework.

Today, I had to run an errand early and then I went to Longville to visit my folks. I visited with my mom, sister and dad. Dad and a friend of his, Mr. Coleman, were milling a couple of pine trees that they had taken down. They had not finished a cutting up quarter of the trees and already had about 150 2X4’s stacked up.

I returned home in time to pick the boys up at school. We came home and worked on homework. Tomorrow I have rescue team training at the refinery. It is getting late and I need to get cleaned up and go to bed.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

This is my last night of graveyards. Our entire shift has to work an extra hour so we can cover the on coming shift which has an hour of ergonomics training first thing in the morning. It won’t be too bad since we won’t have to come back tomorrow night.

When I got home Sunday morning, I let the dog out, got a Killians out of the refrigerator and enjoyed a cold beer and watched the news. When I finished the beer went and got comfortable on the couch. Sunday morning is the only morning that Lisa gets to sleep in and I did not want to disturb her.

Lisa woke me, so I could go to bed, when she and the children were leaving for church. I slept until 12:30 and when I woke Lisa was about finished making dinner. It was her sister Rhonda’s birthday and she fixed a special meal. For starters she made crab cakes on baby spinach leaves covered with a lemon butter sauce and for the main meal she had made a shrimp fettuccine.

I ate the wonderful food and drank a glass Chardonnay with my meal. I then went back to bed, snuggled up to the fan that I have to drown out all noise and slept until 3:30. I then found that the rest of Lisa’s family had arrived. I visited with everyone until it was time to get ready for work. I then came to the refinery and that is where I am now.

I just got in from making a round in my unit.

Later,
Kenith

I am on the graveyard shift. Last night was one of those rare occasions, after making our first round, we sat in the kitchen for a while telling “war stories” about events experienced out here at the refinery. The guys who have been here over twenty years have stories hair raising stories about explosions and other such experiences.

Thankfully the explosion of one of our units happened before I came to work here, which was 16 years ago. I had some stories of my own, but thankfully it, all my “events were near misses. Our safety record in this industry is really pretty good, but there have been three people killed since I’ve been here.

I worked at one refinery for four years, and in those four years twelve people were killed. It was a terrible place to work. Thankfully I was never hired into operations at that refinery.

Last night we had a good quite night. I hope we have a similar night tonight.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Much has happened since my last post here. I've read a few good books and things at home are going ok. Morgan and Danny are engaged to be married in April of 08. We bought our tickets for Ireland and have applied for our passports.

Lisa and I took the little boys to the Mardi Gras parade on Tuesday night. The boys had great fun and I came home with way too many plastic necklaces around my neck as did Lisa. Lisa and I did make it to one Mardi Gras ball this year. It to was fun, but the band was not as good as it has been in past years.

I will try to start keeping this blog up better than I have been of late. We shall see.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Tonight I am off from work. I just finished eating some butter sauted shirmp over vegetables. I am now sitting in front of the computer enjoying a Sam Adams Boston Lager (my favourite lager), the little boys are playing in their room, Morgan is in Dequincy, Christian is heading to Erath and Lisa is still at work.

God is good to me and I don't deserve the many blessing and great grace that my family and I have received from Him.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

This is my third night working graveyards. I have been bounced back to what should be my regular job. I have not worked my regular job for about four years, because I have been moved up to working the top operator position.

I'm working the "board" now and it is taking a little while getting readjusted. I'm working the board on our new unit, which did not exist when I last worked a board job. Izzy is working our other board and has helped me a lot, and I am sooo thankful for the help.

This morning I finished reading Forerunners of the Reformation: The Shape of Late Medieval Thought by Hieko Oberman. It was a very good book; I enjoyed the readings from Medieval theologians. Oberman gave a good introduction at the beginning of each section, but the bulk of the book is essays or letters from thinkers from the latter Middle Ages.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

After Christmas, I worked graveyard shift for New Years so that went by with a whimper. Next big event was the Sugar Bowl. Christian and I went to the game with Woody, who got extra tickets some how. We found out just the day before the game that we would be able to go.

It was a great game. LSU devastated the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. This was sooo sweet! Christian and I had a great time, as did Woody. We left Sulphur about noon on the day of the game. We made a pit stop at The Best Stop in Scott, Louisiana and bought two bounds of cracklins and five pounds boudin.

We arrived in New Orleans about 4 pm and went to the home of one of Woody’s friends, who lived a little bit off of St. Charles. There were already and hand full of folks gathered there. They were about to bar-b-que and had plenty of cold beer on hand. We gave them the boudan and cracklins and they offered us some beer, I enjoyed a few ice-cold Abita Turbodog ales.

A little bit after six, we all piled into an extended cab pickup (filling both the cab and the bed) and headed for the Super dome. Woody’s friend works two buildings from the dome so we had a very good private parking close to the dome.

After a great game, we were able to zip back to where we had come from, with no traffic at all. We then headed back home because both Christian and Woody had to work the next day. I drove and they slept. I was still (mostly) on my graveyard hours so it was not hard, even though we did not get home until four that morning.

Last night, Woody and I picked up MK. We then went to Coolers, a local smoke-free pub, to watch the Saints play the Eagles. It too was a great game; the Saints won. I had hoped Christian would join us but he did not make it.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Ps. I found this VERY important link today: The Boudin Link

Another Christmas has come and gone. The week before Christmas members of our house began to get ill. Our youngest child became ill on Saturday the 17th. He had come down with the flue and ran a fever for the next week. The next youngest followed him into illness, he succumb to the fever on Monday or Tuesday. I fell ill on Friday.

Saturday, Lisa, Morgan and Christian all went to Her families Christmas party, but the little boys and I stayed home sick, though both the boys seemed to be improving. We did not make it to Church Sunday. I was terribly sick and the little boys were not well but noticeably improving.

They were well enough Christmas Eve to open gifts, so we did. That way “we sickly band” would not have to get up early on Christmas Morning. I felt a bit better on Christmas day. We had some company Christmas day night (mostly family) and we played a few games, drank some wine and feasted on seafood gumbo, slow cooked roast and their accessories.

Today I feel better than I have since Thursday, but I’m still not up to speed. I woke up with an earache, I still have a cough and my nose is still not functioning as it should, but I do have a lot more energy.

Coram Deo,
Kenith