Week Three in Shreveport (and Houston)

I did make a stop in Houston on the Great National Retirement Tour after all. Brent and I spent most of the day on Sunday driving to Houston because his son had a court date on Monday. We had a long time in the car to talk about his and Autumn's plan to move to Minnesota next summer. We stopped in Lufkin for his lunch at about 4 pm. We planned to pick up the older kids for dinner about 7 pm, but ran into a freeway accident (apparently with injuries because there was an ambulance) near Conroe, Texas that delayed us for about an hour. We picked up the kids about 8 pm and took them to Willie's for dinner. We had some laughs and some decent food. br>
Brent and I stayed at the Spring Hill Suites hotel in Rosenberg that night. Really liked the hotel. Our room was spacious with a living room and a large desk, two separate bathrooms, and a large closet. The mattress was very comfy and so were the pillows - I am kind of a pillow nazi. We were deep into our computers until almost midnight. On Monday morning, he had breakfast at the hotel and then headed over to the Fort Bend County Courthouse at 9 am sharp.

It was fascinating to watch the people who worked there in that one little courtroom in Richmond, Texas. There was a bailiff whose job seemed to be to make sure all the men had their shirt tails tucked in and that NO ONE was using a cell phone for ANY purpose. There were three other women who ran around with a lot of papers and files and seemed to keep extremely busy, not sure doing what. There were several (4 to be exact) well-dressed men and women who were sitting at the tables facing the judge. At first I thought they were the prosecutors, but it turned out later that they were all defense attorneys, and they all seemed to have the goal of continuing their clients' cases to some future date. Then the prosecutor walked in pulling a dolly with a box full of files. Everyone just descended on her and kept her busier than a one-armed

paper hanger. Some conversa-tions she would have right there in the middle of the courtroom and some she would step outside for. The judge didn't actually show up until about 10:30. The defense lawyers immediately started asking to approach the bench for very quiet conversa-tions that all ended up with that lawyer's client being given a new date to return to court. Brent's son's lawyer did not ask to approach the bench, but somehow one of those three very busy employees came back with a form for the mother to fill out promising to return to court on March 14th. In fact, every one in that courtroom prior to us leaving had their case continued to March 14th. This was the 3rd or 4th time my grandson's case had been continued, which is starting to negatively affect his grades in school. I enjoyed watching how that particular courtroom operated; don't know if that is how all of them work, but I suspect so.

Brent and I took an unintentional tour of downtown Houston, and then got on the road for the 5 hour trip back to Shreveport. Again, we talked of many things - packages and sealing wax, cabbages and kings. We talked about the places Brent wants to show Autumn and the boys when they move to Minnesota - canoeing down the Saint Croix River, Duluth, Bemidji, New London, snow, lakes without alligators, etc. We talked about my farm and the value on hanging onto land for its steady, dependable income in perpetuity vs. selling out for a large sum of money right away that will be gone in a dozen years. "Never sell land - it's the only thing they are not making more of" has always been the Lindgren family mantra. We talked about my construction plans to prepare for them moving into my house next year. We got back to Shreveport at 6 pm and had dinner at Walk-On - a Creole/sports bar & grill. I had bayou shrimp and crawfish pasta that was fabulous and washed it down with Reasonably Corrupt beer, a local craft beer that I really like.

I got an eye exam and bought new eyeglasses on Tuesday (remember I sat on my eyeglasses and broke them on Saturday); picked them up on Wednesday. I also got an oil and filter change for my trusty Subaru on Tuesday. It came with a "free" car wash at the lube and oil place that cost me $4. Only in Louisiana do you have to pay $4 for a free car wash. DJ was sick again, so he came home from school early on Tuesday and was still home sleeping on Wednesday. Autumn made a really good avocado, tomato, and mozzarella salad which we had with "clean out the frig" left-overs for dinner. Then the two of us had a really good talk about my family and my farm. Oh, and Hillary won Super Tuesday really big, picking up 596 delegates compared to Sanders' 276. She is now 42% of the way to the Democratic nomination for President. Yay!

Thursday I traveled over to Bossier again to Bayou Outdoor Supercenter to buy a part that flew off my camper somewhere in Texas. Unlike the dealership where I bought the camper in Minneapolis, Bayou is actually a Palomino dealer. It was painless and the part fit perfectly when I got it back home. Celebrating small successes here. I went with Brent to meet DJ's bus after preschool twice this week; he is so super excited every single day that someone comes to meet his bus! Thursday was Brent's short day at work, so we went out to Silver Star near the race track for pit BBQ dinner. I had a combo platter: smoked turkey, pulled pork, and beef brisket. Nummm!

This week Logan decided that I am a playmate He gives me this little bright eyed kind of winking look that suggests that the two of us are in some kind of playtime conspiracy. And DJ revived later this week. This is the first time that both of them have been healthy at once since I got here. We played a lot! On Friday, the kids and I took the stroller and

went for a walk around the neighborhood. So much to see: 2 dogs, a lot of birds, blooming flowers, some Easter eggs attached to a mail box, and a swivel chair sitting on the boulevard. A kid paradise! One evening Brent, Autumn and I watched movies on TV and talked about: (a) funny things Southerners say that Minnesotans don't, (b) funny things that Minnesotans say that Southerners don't, and (c) how Brent and Grant used to have fart wars in the house.

Saturday I worked on downloading even more videos and putting them on YouTube so I could erase another 75MB from my camera's memory. I am still occasionally losing photos that I know I took. Then toward dusk I was trying to get Democratic presidential primary results for Super Saturday and picked up a virus that may have wiped my computer. I shut it down. We went to Tokyo to celebrate Autumn's birthday. She was joined by 12 of her family & friends and we all had a great time and some great Hibachi. DJ made friends with a cute blonde. At the end of the night he said goodbye and her name just as sharp and clear as a bell. I guess love will do that to a guy! I babysat (which consisted of putting the tired baby to sleep with a bottle, and falling asleep with DJ on the couch). A good week!