Saturday the Blairs and us went driving around Northeast, TX and Northwest, LA - essentially we made a loop around Lake Caddo. We stopped at a Catfish Restaurant. I'm not crazy about eating fish that eat poop for a living. Catfish are bottom dwellers. You can tell on a fish by its mouth were it live and what it eats. Catfish have their mouth UNDER the head. Most fish have it straight in front of the face. If a fish is a "top-feeder" it will have its mouth at the top of the head right in front of the eyes (like gouramis, many live-bearers (guppies, mollies, etc). If the fish has teeth its a meat-eater. If it has no noticeable teeth its probably a vegetarian. If it has a bony ridge for teeth (like a parrot fish) it is a coral eater. Back to eating catfish - I don't like it, but "when in Rome, do what the Romans do!" We had them make us some extra crispy fries. I've finally figured out how to order "extra crispy" fries. Usually people just think "We will cook them longer" and that will make them "extra crispy" right!? NOPE! That will make them "extra-soggy." The way to order "extra crispy" fries is to tell them "Take some of the fries that you already have made and fry them again." It's the second frying of already cooling off fried frys that put the "crisp" in them. The meal also came with "hush puppies" - fried balls of corn bread about 1inch in diameter. Those were good. The catfish in the south is rolled in corn meal too - unlike up north where it's rolled in bread crumbs or a batter. Fried catfish, Fried Hush Puppies, extra-crispy french fries - a suicide by cholesterol meal if I ever ate one. On a tangential point MY cholesterol is reallllly low. Total cholesterol of about 125. Since you MUST eat fats to metabolize many types of vitamins and since you MUST have fats in your body to line nerves and the brain. My doctor has actually told me about 2 years ago. You've got to get more fat in your diet. That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it!
One of towns we went through was Oil City, Louisiana. It's right on Lake Caddo. Apparently it is a really OLD oil field - 1905 to be exact. It still has many active wells today.
On the way around the west side of Lake Caddo along Texas 43 as you leave Smithville, TX on the way to Marshall, Texas you pass the house in the picture below:
It is the house that Lady Bird (Taylor) Johnson's grew up in. She came from money. That's a nice looking house.
After getting back to Camp Bee I went for a 3 mile walk.
Of course yesterday being Sunday was a day we met with the saints at the Eastern Hills church of Christ in Marshall, Texas. The preacher there is Keith Hodges. He does a great job of "keeping his nose in the book" while presenting a lesson. Both of his sermons yesterday (10:30 AM and 6 PM) were from 1 Peter 2 on Jesus being our example for dealing with trials and persecution and how we as christians are supposed to honor our rulers even if they aren't being godly. Sobering thoughts in today's America.
Now, the bad news. The vision in my left eye has significantly eroded over the last 10 days. I have to go to Longview to see Dr. Goslee at 11:45 this morning. I WILL have to get a shot in the eye today. On the bright side - the last shot I had was on Dec 6th. That was 10 1/2 weeks ago. I noticed the vision heading south about 10 days ago, so the 9 weeks is the longest I've gone between shots in a year.
Our grand daughter Phoebe has a new line of "Party Hats" available. I got the picture below from Brenda yesterday. Phoebe wanted a party hat that "doesn't have a rubber band that goes under your chin and makes your chin hurt and leaves a line." Her's what she designed and made herself:
The strap below is popsicle sticks held together with tape. You'll need to get your orders in early for these, they are hand made and going to sell like hotcakes, I'm sure!
PS - Just a geography note - Caddo Lake is the only NATURAL lake in the whole state of Texas. All the rest of the lakes are man made from damming up rivers, creeks, or streams or digging holes and filling them with water.
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