Whipping ya with another pic

Beach Walk

Random Friday Morning Thougts

• We canoed for about an hour down the Blackwater River yesterday. My only complaint is that we didn't sign up for the longer one.
• Pic. 
• Once the canoes were in the water, I fired up Dueling Banjos on my phone. At least I was highly entertained. 
• The guy helping with the boats had a great accent. We asked him where he was from and he said, "LA - Lower Alabama."
• We took someone's advice on here and ate at AJ's in the harbor yesterday evening. Fantastic. The girls want to go back to see more fishing ships come in. Best times? Noon? 4:00?
• But when we got dressed for dinner, I realized I'd only brought tennis shoes. When I walked out, I got a "Really?" from Mrs. LL.  I started humming the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme. It didn't help. 
• Most awkward stepparenting moment last night when one kid (who shall remain nameless) woke me up to tell me their toilet was clogged. I headed that way when she yelled, "I don't want you to see my business." Darlin', I don't want to see your business, either. So with me in the kitchen, I gave her instructions as she operated the plunger. Success. 
• I've been mostly disconnected from the news this weekend. I love it and hate it. 
• But I did see that a state legislator was arrested for DWI in Austin. 
• Six people gunned down in a bar in the "outskirts" of Cancun.  Mexico doesn't need that bad press. 
• And some things never change: Cop car hit in the metroplex. 
• They have "bear crossing" signs on the back roads here. 
• And the very odd message warning that smoke might impact visibility. Is there a big fire in the Florida Panhandle I'm not aware of?
• What does "first cousin once removed" mean?
• Speaking of awkward, this most recent clip of the very effeminate pastor Robert Jeffress ranting about gays has to be seen. The FBC of Dallas has to get control of that guy. 
• And that's some craziness at Prestonwood Baptist.  
• This might be a bit, but Kelli Rasberry tweeted a pic of a knight at Medieval Times who she was in love with. But there is no question that's the boyfriend of Fox 4's Fiona. Did I just write that?

History Channel Selling Aurora Spaceman DVD

No waves this morning

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• There was a pretty big fire outside of the next door condo last night. Mrs. LL even called 911.
• Four motorcycle deaths in two days in Fort Worth?
• Mrs. LL used to eat her hamburger upside down.
• The Fourth Grader in the Condo and I successfully located the buried football. That was pretty fun.
• The weather is a tad cool this week for Florida but I think I'd rather take a long beach walk at 65 degrees, slight breeze, and sunny than with a temperature of 95.
• Everyone is on a quest for the perfect sand dollar. Did I read those things were once alive?
• The water boards that you stand on and navigate with a paddle are called YOLO boards down here. Idiocracy?
• The college kids that go full throttle on Spring Break probably aren't the leaders of tomorrow. 
• If we get our act together, we are going to canoe on something called the Blackwater River today.  I wish I had a bow and armor ala Deliverance. 
• Ever Big 12 school as a Simpsons character. Who could possibly be Flanders?
• About once a day, two low flying helicopter fly down our beach. Mrs. LL yells, "Get some! Get some!" Every time. That's a Full Metal Jacket reference. 
• There were three people in the Update's death announcements yesterday 51 years of age and younger. I don't feel so guilty about a spring break vacation any longer. 
• I see eleven fishing boats heading out right now. 
• A group of cardinals in a room electing a new pope reminds me of the closed sports writers electing players to the NFL Hall of Fame.
• Google is shutting down Google Reader which kills me because I use it many times a day.
• Why is he not Pope Francis the first?

Another Pic

A sunny pic of the beach

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I don't know how you could have better beaches than what is here. White sand. Small waves. And, depending on the tide, the water is so shallow that it is like walking on it. 
• The picture below (rare for me to post stuff like that, I know) shows what I'm talking about exactly. And the sun set makes for perfect lighting for great photos. We took a ton. 
• In the photo I'm actually saying, "This is so cheesy."  Then I saw it later and it was anything but. 
• I don't know what I think about Seaside. It's like you are walking around in a 1950's town that would be quaint if the tourists hadn't found it. 
• There's actually a Truman House on a side road which had absolutely no one looking at it besides us. 
• The dolphins swam by yesterday when the beach was crowded but their fins breaking the surface looked a little creepy. I soooo wanted to break out into the character of the mayor from Jaws with, "It's a beautiful day. The beaches are open. Welcome to Amityville."
• Finally had a few drunk spring breakers show up but very few. Almost all the condos require someone over 25 to be the renter. 25 is the new 18. 
• Florida has the "speed limit enforced by aircraft" signs.  That's a government lie, right?
• I'm posting this now but I'm still writing more. I overslept. 
• I had to make the dreaded Subway Sandwich run for five orders. I made everyone write theirs down neatly because I'm not talking to anyone for that long to order food. And when a lone guy came in behind me, I asked the clerk to let him go in front of me. "No! You were here first!" Sassy little gal
• I found a beat up football. After throwing it with the Fourth Grader in The Condo, we secretly buried it on the beach. The goal today is to find it. 
• We watched The Cosby Show last night. To my surprise, I now want the kids to watch every episode. There are a lot of life lessons in there that I'm not capable of teaching. 
• Beach people watching is the best people watching. 
• On the first day on the balcony I looked out and said, "The sea was angry that day my friend."  Our Visitor in the Condo who goes to a private school said, "old man in the sea".  I'm thinking Seinfeld. She's thinking Hemingway. 
• Before we went to sleep the other night, I was watching The Family Guy and Mrs. LL was reading a book on New Orleans voodoo. And we were both totally happy. 
• 
  

Best Of Days

Me. The Teenager In The House. The Fourth Grader In The House. Mrs. LL 

There are some photos you know you want to keep close to your heart. 

Above The Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Someone mentioned yesterday that I was an idiot for choosing Shreveport as the overnight stop destination on the way to Destin because it was only four hours into the trip. I couldn't agree more.
• Day One of the trip: Rain and horrible weather.  We stayed inside and watched movies and actually had a great time. But it's supposed to be sunny the rest of the week. 
• We are staying in a high rise condo and here's the view from yesterday.
• And I'm now a big fan of the condo. It's more expensive than a hotel, but with a full kitchen, I think it may end up cheaper by having most meals here.
• I was a regular real estate tycoon when I guessed condos in this place sell for around $400,000. 
• We rented this one from a doctor in Louisiana who owns four of them. 
• Before we made the grocery store run, we had breakfast at Cick-fil-A. I would never eat such a breakfast on my own and am stunned how many people do.
• There was a young tatted guy who came in asking for an application. Call me weird, but I was a mess of emotions as I watched him fill it out.
• Any one else know about that tunnel in Bilouxi?
• I don't think I've ever taken Spring Break off since law school. 
• Our plan today is to go to Seaside, home of the filming of The Truman Show, and a state beach park that is right by it. 
• Mrs. LL Thinks she is now a new person of discipline after going ten days in vegetable juice and driving the whole way here. She might be right. 
• This condo has a machine in the lobby which gives you two free dvd rentals at a time. Based on The Kids' reaction, we found the Holy Grail. 
• The older kids watched Dark Shadows yesterday. I didn't even attempt to explain to them it was a weird soap opera when I was a kid. 
• Clint Eastwood may have screwed up the Republican National Convention but his daughter is a Hey, Now. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• We're live from Destin, Florida this morning. Things might be a little slow around here this week, and the content will be a little different.
• Mrs. LL gets sick whenever she is a passenger. So what did she insist on this road trip? Driving the whole time. Fine by me. We broke it up by spending the night in Shreveport.
• You ever been in a car from Shreveport to Destin? BEAT-ING.
• I'm not a big restarant guy but I made it a point to taking everyone to Shreveport's Crawdaddy's Kitchen because it was ranked #1 on TripAdvisor.com (which I am a big fan of.) It was the worst service in the history of ever. And when we go back to the hotel, Mrs. LL was writing a review on TripAdvisor that looked to be as long as War and Peace. I'm so scared that I haven't read it yet.
• Recall we've got two teenage girls and one Fourth grade girl on this trip with us. On the way back from the restaurant, Mrs. LL played a trick on me by firing up the seat warmer. I was so delerious that I fired off an uncharacteritic, "My butt is on fire!" Within moments, the Kids in the Car were singing, "My butt is on fire" to the tune of Alicia Key's "This girl is on fire."
• Odd comment from our guest teenager afterwards: "You're so distinguished that it is really funny when you're not." I don't know how to take that. 
• She also has her driver's learning permit so we asked her how well she could drive. "I have a little trouble aiming the car sometimes," she said. 
• Our plan was to go to the Bonnie and Clyde death scene (dark) and Vicksburg's Civil War Memorial the next day but it was raining. My scientific calculations determined that we'd be driving underneath the storm all morning if we headed East. So we decided to go through New Orleans on the way to Design and see the other sights on the way home (if we're still speaking.)
• We stopped by the Nottoway Plantation on the way and I took this pic. You can't help but being swept back in time as you walk the grounds. 
• Our stop over in New Orleans was brief and we walked along the Mississippi River. There a "Holocaust Park" area which was being honored by three guys by smoking pot. 
• Highway 10 in Mississippi and Alabama is the darkest road in America.
• Mrs. LL likes to listen to Ticket Podcasts with her favorite being the callers in the voting of "Emergency Brake of the Week." We both had headset in and we're laughing out loud. The 
• Kids in the Back decide to do a bit, unbeknownst to us, by saying crazy things to us and seeing if we would laugh at the perfect time.
• Even when loud, it's impossible to get irritated with the Kids laughing. 
• The Wise County kill-a-hog contest is over. That was some serious money they were throwing around over there. 
• No newspaper shot today because I can't make it work.