Caidy and I took off early Tuesday afternoon and after almost four hours (to go about 60 miles) we made it to the Quarter House in New Orleans to stay the night and see the Saints carry the Lombardi Trophy Mardi Gras style through the streets of New Orleans.

We stood with a friendly crowd at the intersection of Canal and Camp. It was cold, so we stayed warm with a not so nutritional combination of alcohol and funnel cakes. The parade was slow moving with a pretty long route, but it was fun.

Who Dat Gear

This past Martin Luther King Jr. holiday we went to Fleurty Girl in New Orleans to pick up some Who Dat gear. Caidy scored a Boutte Call shirt, Mom got a Who D@! shirt, and I got the #whodat hashtag shirt.

We’ll have some proper attire for the Saints this weekend although I appear a little bent (not quite heterosexual) for the photo.

Mardi was born November 20, 2009. She’s a Shepherd/Unknown and we have no idea about the Unknown part. I guess we will found out soon enough. Pretty smart for a little puppy and starting to get the house-breaking thing. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with this one.

Fate the 12 year old cat has given her a provisional “thumbs up”. The other two cats are still thinking about it.

After they moved to Louisiana they spent several months dealing with some of the crookedest real-estate people you can imagine. For some reason these people thought out of state newbies from Phoenix would be easy suckers. They tried to sell my parents over priced housing in crime ridden neighborhoods, flood prone housing, and my favorite; A fire damaged house where they laid shingles over huge burn holes in the roof. My folks had enough. They bought a mobile home, moved it into a trailer park in Tioga, Louisiana and started hunting for some land.

The land was the husk of a burnt out brick home at 5716 Gilley Williams Rd., Tioga, Louisiana. We spent many years moving the bricks of that house around the property.

On November 16, 2009 my parents left Tioga. They have a new home in West Virgina near my brother. I’m surprised they lived in Tioga so long. We wore that place out! They raised two boys and a neighborhood of vagabonds that we would bring home. That tin box was beat up by storms like Gustav. I still get pissed when weather people mention their disdain for the mobile home. A properly built and anchored mobile home is as good as anything else. I’ve seen brick homes collapse too. If you survive a major weather event, you should just be thankful.

There’s some photos we took when we helped them move; The cinderblocks where my dog, Boss, hid when he ran away as a puppy. The remnants of the ladder to tree house we built.The railroad tracks where I walked all the time (occasionally I snuck out to raise hell). Some artifacts like the Sierra Network mouse pad and my brother’s Sex Pistol album Caidy took. Of course the concrete we poured to build the carport that has our names in it.

P.S. For a bonus here’s the YouTube video of Richard McNair’s smooth escape that took place down the street).

Caidy saved her up cash for quite a while and we slowly aquired the paint and supplies. We decided on a light blue because it was a calm color that would reflect some decent light. We chose white cabinets and trim for the sam reason. Total project took a little over two weeks since we both have jobs.

Caidy's Birthday Fluer de Lis - 10

This is my wife Caidy’s birthday present this year. She makes sure to remind me about once a week that I “should do more art”. See she knows that before the Web, even before the graphic design degree; I would draw and paint on just about anything. It’s so hard sometimes to make time for plain ole messy art, but it’s cool to have a friend to remind you and make you miss it.

It’s a fluer de lis completed in oil and mixed media on chiseled wood. The wood was an old solid piece with a slight warp that was laying behind my shed. I worked with it for about three weeks. Chiseled at it on the patio for three hours one day while Caidy was at work. Smuggled it back and forth to work along with my paint supply tackle box and other gear.  I’m lucky Caidy never went into the shed last week. She would have figured it out easily.

Here are some images of the process. They’re iphone pictures, so they may be a little funky:

Jess & Caidy's New MacBook Pro

I still haven’t finished setting things up, but it’s good to have something to replace our five year old Powerbook. W00t!