I am addressing you today a year older but no wiser. Born January 21, 1943, Friday was my 79th birthday, and getting this far alone was the reward I deserved.
Dessert was a king pie, no candles due to fire hazards, although, given the mid-twenties nighttime temperatures at the Robeline family home, a fire in the wood-burning oven was appropriate.
Busy looking back: We’ve been on the run for the past few weeks from our positive but asymptomatic tests for COVID. We spent one night in our unrepaired house on Bellaire Drive in Houma, then five days in a pet-friendly hotel in Gulfport, Miss., and then another night in Bellaire Drive, to prevent workmen, contractor Joey Russ, from claiming that they were finally making progress on fixing our interior.
We then spent another five nights at the family farm at Robeline, navigating the muddy access road in the occasional rain, including a visit with my sister-in-law to the Toledo Bend lake near Zwolle. She had treated us to a fried fish feast from Country Boy, our favorite Many restaurant, and allowed me to use her internet to submit a column.
Bill Elzey:I tested positive for COVID again, but luckily I’m still not sick
During that two week period, we found time to visit the cemeteries where our parents are buried to renew the flowers that decorate their graves.
Nolan and Phyllis Barrios, my late father and mother-in-law, are buried in Mississippi, and our visit to Gulfport made visiting their resting place easy. My parents, Orvis and Dorris Ellzey, are among my relatives who are buried in the Central Baptist Church near Robeline. Both cemeteries are hours from Houma, so we try to take advantage of any journey that brings us closer.
Insulation? A major complication of a stay on the Robeline family’s farm is the lack of internet. I can’t submit this column from the farm, and worse, I can’t receive your emails until we return to the electronic civilization at home in Terrebonne. Forgive me if the situation leads to a lack of publicity for your event.
With medical appointments around Houma in the afternoon, we rushed back early Monday, leaving me with less time to write and hoping to finish and connect to the internet in time to meet my deadline.
The dirt road from the farm was dry for a change and we were soon on I-49 South, enjoying the 75 mph speed limit. That’s not to say I was driving at the limit; kept up with most of the other traffic going south, it was over 80, and we were still being passed by vehicles with Texan license plates. I find Texas drivers so brazen, willing to fiddle with 10 mils and more at the posted limits.
However, we didn’t see any crashes or obvious stoplights from a blue light speeder. There was relatively little traffic and we were home in plenty of time for our appointments. The deadline is slightly different. I think editor Keith Magill will be tolerant. I rarely miss my deadlines in the afternoon.
The dry weather continued until we got to our doctors, but the rest of the afternoon was wet. Now read my email to find out what I missed.
Respond? Contact Bill Ellzey at (985) 381-6256, ellzey@viscom.net or billellzey312@gmail.com.