Saturday...

Tonight our neighbor, Jim, pulled out and is headed to his next job in Missouri. Jim is an industrial electrician and has been here for about a month. He's from Tennessee so will get to go home for a day or two before he heads to Missouri. He will only be there for a couple of weeks and then he's headed to Washington state. He was a nice neighbor and we're sure glad we got to meet him.

Last night Linda got home from work around 12:30. About a half hour later we hear a loud alarm go off and then it kept repeating itself over and over for quite some time. We finally figured out that someone had tripped a security alarm in the Scottish Rite hall next door. Linda was really nervous that we had a criminal running around outside. The automated alarm was saying "You have entered a secure space. The police have been notified....." We finally turned on our meditation tape to drown it out. We asked Donna, the park manager, about it tonight and she said she was glad we heard it as it seems no one else in the park heard it. She said she called the sheriff to report it and they never came to take care of it but it finally shut off about 1:30. We told her that it made us nervous to have a criminal on the loose and she said that probably a rat tripped the sensor and set it off. We weren't sure whether we should feel better about that explanation than the one we had thought it was. Hmmm.... On top of that she tells me tonight that there are "carnival" people moving in the next day or two and guess what.....we have the space open next to us. Yeehaa !!That gave me a warm feeling all over. She said last year, the night they moved in, she found that they had started a huge bonfire outside their rig and there were about 20 cars parked on their site. Sounds like we have a fun time ahead.....

Went downtown today to tour the old capitol building but there was a festival going on and we couldn't get anywhere close to it. We wanted to take in the festival but parking was really tight and finally gave up and went to Sam's Club to get some things we needed. Got home in time to see Jim before he left and then watched the NASCAR race. Good race....my boy is back on top !

Weather is still staying really warm here. Has been in the high 80's all week and the humidity kept climbing through the week. Luckily today there was a good breeze despite the fact that the humidity was in the 70% range. Might get some rain tomorrow and little cooler (low 80's) on Monday.

As far as the swine flu fiasco, there are about 11 suspected cases in Louisiana. The local news is constantly covering it and it gets really monotonous. The whole thing is really overblown and the media, in typical fashion, has found their latest "crisis" to grab a hold of and blow out of proportion. Everyone needs to calm down and act responsibly by practicing good hand washing and just use common sense.

Tea, Anyone ?

Remember this picture of the capitol steps that we posted the other day ? Well, today these steps were the site of Baton Rouge's tea party. Similar protests took place all over the country. Some say that the whole movement was started by the Republican party...sour grapes over having lost the election. Thousands of people gathered to protest the excessive spending that govt. has authorized recently for bailouts, etc. Others say that this wasn't a protest that centered around political affiliation at all but a concern that the debt that we are incurring is one that our grandchildren will have to deal with. There is a concern that even though we have "taxation WITH representation" that our needs fall on deaf ears. Pork barrel spending continues....and people are just fed up. This was a grassroots movement that I don't think we've seen or heard the last of. No matter what side of the debate you fall on, I think the important thing is that people are getting fired up and participating in THEIR government. Thinking about what is going on...how it will impact them or future generations...and getting passionate enough to GET INVOLVED. Isn't that what government should be ? Active participation by all to bring about change on a global scale. Let's keep it going !

Downtown Baton Rouge

Today we decided to explore downtown Baton Rouge before Linda had to leave for work. We drove straight down Florida Blvd.,which is right out our front door, and it took us all the way down to the edge of the Mississippi River. We saw the Capitol Building off on a side street so we decided to go check it out. What an impressive building !

It is the tallest capitol building in the country. The building was the dream of Huey P. Long who convinced the public and legislature that a new State Capitol would eventually save the state money because of its efficient modern structure. It also became the site of Huey Long's assassination in 1935 and he is buried out in the middle of the garden and a statue was erected to honor him.

The building is so ornate....a 50' entrance into the building with carvings all around it. The interior is no less impressive.Two large wall murals, huge chandeliers, lots of marble, bronze and exotic woods. The senate chambers are located on the west side of the hall and the house chamber is on the east side. The doors into these areas weigh one ton each but move effortlessly on their hinges.
After exploring the first floor we took the elevators (had to take two different ones)to the 27th floor, where the observation level is. There 350 feet above Baton Rouge we got a wonderful view of the nearby area. The mighty Mississippi on one side...

Chemical corridor on another side and downtown Baton Rouge on the other.

It was wonderful to get this bird's eye view of the area but we did find ourselves holding on to each other as our stomach's got a bit queasy when we got near the railing.

Here are the gardens, just outside the capitol building. If you look in the center of the circle, you'll see a statue. That is where Huey Long is buried and his statue faces towards the capitol.

We went back home, glad for our little adventure out and about in the city. You can tell that the city is still trying to recover from past hurricanes as some buildings are torn up, signs mangled and shingles missing. The downtown area isn't as pretty as some others we've seen but there are some historical landmarks that we want to check out before we leave the area.